Real World Ranma
by Neocelestia
Summary: What if the Ranma 1/2 universe turned out to be nothing more than a set in a television studio! With the characters as the actors. How will they act when the cameras aren't rolling? rated T for minor mature content. minor crossovers CHAPTER 9 IS UP!
1. Chapter 1

**Real World Ranma **- by Neocelestia

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Ranma 1/2. Nor do I own any other recognized series/characters that may appear in this story. Characters and series elements are copyright of their respective owners.

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**A/N:** For the ease of reading the fic, please note that dialogue will have " " around it (yes, I know that's stating the obvious..) and characters' thoughts meant only for the reader will be inside * * symbols. Hope this helps. Also, there's very slight mature content in one section of this chapter so youngsters may want to skip a paragraph. Enjoy the story!

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**Chapter 1**

"HAPPOFIRE BURST!"

The cry came from the sky as the silhouette figure back lit by the summer sun descended from the air and onto a nearby roof.

The young martial artist who was in hot pursuit, saw this coming and jumped back in mid-flight, changing his trajectory.

"You'll hafta do better'n that, OLD FREAK! Come back here!!"

Bounding over trees and rooftops, the pair landed in a nearby park, one still hot on the trail of the other. The old lecher looked back with a twisted grin as his opponent had just launched himself off a tree branch and was in mid-air.

"Here ya go m'boy, one pair of Akane's panties!" the hentai exclaimed as a pair of lacy underwear hit the young martial artist in the face. This had thrown him off just enough to get hit by the park's sprinklers and the figure disappeared into the distance with a maniacal laugh, tossing back only a bra with the cry "A present for you Ranma! Try it on! I'll have a look see later!" as he was gone from sight.

---

"Aaaanndd.....CUT! That's lunch, people. We'll meet back here in an hour and have Ranko film her scene."

The director put down his megaphone and exited his chair as a soaking wet Ranma Saotome relaxed and walked off the set, to his trailer. "See ya in an hour." he called back to the cast and crew. As Ranma closed the door, he sighed and looked down at his clothes. The only frustrating part of the job. Half his scenes ended in him getting drenched, dunked, splashed and otherwise wet. The prop people didn't really use cold water. Who could tell on camera anyway? But wet clothing quickly becomes freezing to the body. Ranma proceeded to change into his street clothes, planning to spend a leisurely lunch without his costumed image along for the ride.

It'd been almost four years. Ranma had been in acting before, but never the title role in a hit series. 'Ranma 1/2' was one of the top shows in Tokyo, let alone all of Japan. And now it was getting public exposure overseas as well. Ranma had gradually surrendered his birth name and adopted that of his television persona. They all had. Every actor in the show had legally taken the name of their character. No one thought twice about it either. It was just easier. No one would buy a story about a martial artist named Kappei Yamaguchi.

Ranma exited the trailer and headed off to where his co-star and leading lady had hers parked, his every thought on having a pleasant break with her.

---

Ranma was about to knock when he heard muffled sounds coming from inside Akane's trailer. Without a thought, he poised his ear to the door and listened.

"Mmmm, Ryouga no etchii..." Akane said with a giggle as Ryouga smiled wryly at her. His arms were around the lovely Akane and his left hand was having a grand old time making friends with the underside of her blouse. "Hehe, you know you love it." he said with a fangy grin as his lips enveloped her neck. Ranma's visage fell as he turned and walked away from the trailer. He knew Ryouga and Akane were seeing each other. Heck, everyone had their suspicions, but he had the proof. He had heard these sounds all too often and his heart ached as each one hit his ears. The relationship wasn't that serious, but Ranma knew Ryouga was a fast mover and this only made him more filled with worry. *Aww man, why couldn't I be the one holdin' Akane in my arms..?* he thought.

"Studying the set's floor again Ranma? Have you even eaten yet?" The actor looked up to see Ukyo giving him a friendly smile. He shot back a grin hiding his embarrassment at her observation and put his hand behind his head. "Eh, I was jus' memorizin' my lines fer my next scene. Goin' over 'em in my head and all that, y'know? heh.. heh."

Ukyo shrugged. She knew Ranma wasn't exactly telling all. No one skips lunch every day for three months on purpose. And that's just what he'd done. She saw him every day, walking slow and silent as if distracted by something. But Ukyo wasn't one to pry. Instead, she patted the chair next to her and handed Ranma some take-out okonomiaki while she flipped through her script. Ranma took it gratefully and quite in-character, wolfed it down in less than a second.

"Prepping for the scene at Ucchans?" questioned Ranma. Well, more like stated. He already knew he was quite right in his observation. Ukyo only had one scene that day. "Yep.", she shot back casually without flinching. Instead her eyes darted up and down the pages and she turned the script upside down and right side up once or twice, looking perturbed. "Sugar, honey. They've got me saying this every five seconds. Are those writers smoking something? I mean my character runs a restaurant, not a candy factory!" Ukyo sighed and kept reading as Ranma let out a soft laugh and stood up to make the best of the remaining break.

---

His thoughts were trailing back to Akane when he heard yet another voice just off-set. "Aiyah! Shampoo no let Violent Girl have Ranma. Ranma take Shampoo to date."

Ranma walked over and nodded to Shampoo. "Heh, Ya'know, I almost can't tell what scene yer rehearsin'."

Shampoo rolled her eyes and smiled. If she had a pay raise for every time she'd said that line, she'd be the highest paid among the cast. "Hello Ranma. I finished lunch early, so I figured I should get these lines down before my next scene." Ranma smiled and gave her the thumbs up.

"Sounds good to me. Ain't it hard for ya to go from yer normal speech ta the incomplete stuff they write for ya? Yer real good at that by the way." Shampoo gave him a nod. "One gets used to it. I'd rather have this than Tatewaki's script. I'm terrible with Shakespearian quotes. You don't know how good you have it. At least you don't need to alter your speech at all."

Ranma shrugged absently. He didn't think much of it. The director loved what the speech did for the character, but Ranma had never really taken notice. It was too natural to him.

Shampoo looked at Ranma, only then noting he was alone. "Where's Akane? I thought you were planning to have lunch with her." Ranma's expression turned to one of sadness and he once again found himself looking to the floor. In his quietest voice he answered her. ".....I was"

Shampoo saw what her inquiry had done to Ranma and sighed, resting her hand on his shoulder. "You really should tell her how you feel." she said, adding in "...before it's too late." to reinforce the statement. Ranma blinked, then remembered he had once confided in Shampoo about his feelings toward Akane. He loved her deeply. No one knew, to his knowledge, except for Shampoo. Ranma was way too shy to spread something like that around. And every time he had wanted to even attempt to tell Akane how he felt, Ryouga was with her.

Ranma Saotome was an excellent actor. But there was one aspect of his character that he didn't need to pretend about. Whenever Ranma denied his feelings to another character in the show, whenever he showed a hint of a blush toward the girl his character was destined to marry, that was no act. Ranma gave his friend a look and forced a smile. He then stood up and headed over to wardrobe, deciding the rest of his break would be spent preparing for work. Shampoo let out a small sigh, wondering how much longer her friend would let his heart be silent.

---

Ryouga and Akane emerged from the trailer, just as the director sounded the five minute warning. Akane smiled and pointed to the corner of her lip, indicating Ryouga had a lipstick smudge left over from their visit. Ryouga in turn, licked his lips and wiped it off. "I need to go change." he said with a smile as his hand graced her cheek and he walked off toward wardrobe. Ryouga however had one thing in common with his character. His lack of directional sense.

That was one of the reasons he'd been cast. The best camera tricks in the business couldn't produce the effect the director wanted nearly as good as Ryouga could. They even had camera crews posted around the world so they could shoot off location when Ryouga got lost. All in all, he was the perfect choice for the role. Ryouga took one wrong turn on his way to wardrobe and quickly found himself lost in another part of the studio.

---

Ranma watched from the sidelines as Ranko took over from where he'd left off. She was using the Amaguri Ken to tear the 'present' Happosai left her to shreds and her voice rang through the studio with calls of "FREAK OF NATURE!!" and "I'M A GUY!". Ranma however was oblivious to this as his attention was fully on Akane who was just walking up for her portion of the scene.

Ranma felt bewitched by this goddess in front of him. His heart melted as she said her lines, the sound of her voice being all his ears cared to hear. His eyes trailed over her every feature, stopping at her lips as she spoke, and focusing on her body at her every move. He was entranced by her beauty. He didn't care what the scene was. He didn't care that he wasn't in it. All he saw was her. Ranko had just delivered her last line. 'Last' being that it was an insult to Akane, hence Ranko was being malleted into the ground. Ranma watched as the vision of loveliness arched her back, her arms caught in a breathtaking downward swing as the mallet met with Ranko's skull. Pure poetry in motion.

Everyone but Ranma cringed at the sight. He saw, pure beauty. They saw pain. Well, more the memory of pain actually. The studio had long stopped providing the prop department with real mallets. There wasn't a stunt double left in Tokyo that would accept the job of standing in for any of Akane's targets. So, instead she had since started using very realistic looking foam mallets.

---

As Akane walked off the set, and the crew readied for the next scene, Ranma walked over to her. He was far too influenced by her beauty to let shyness ruin it for him. He was going to break the ice. And the best part was, Ryouga was nowhere in sight. Akane looked over as Ranma advanced toward her and smiled. "Hello Ranma. How was your lunch?"

Ranma let that go, not wanting to let regret take the place of his current feelings. Instead, he simply went on with his intended conversation. "You were great out there Akane." he said with a soft smile. She smiled in return and reciprocated with a nod "As were you, earlier." Ranma's heart fluttered. No one's praise meant more to him than that of Akane. He was practically beaming at her words. "Y.. ya really think so?" was all he could manage to say. Again Akane nodded and he simply smiled at her. Ranma gulped and took a deep breath. *It's now or never..* he thought to himself. "Akane, ya wanna have dinner tonight?" Akane blinked. She had not expected Ranma's invitation.

The truth was, Akane had not spent much time off-set with Ranma and was more used to his in-character persona. She had grown accustomed to the insults, the fighting, the put-downs. True, it was all acting, but it was all she knew where he was concerned. Akane looked at him nervously and searched for the right response. She could almost have seen Ranma's love filled eyes gleaming in anticipation if she weren't so distracted with what to say. *I was hoping to spend dinner with Ryouga.* she thought.

"We're ready for scene 2A. Where the hell is Hibiki??" the director called. "Damned fool got himself lost again!" answered a crewman. Hearing this, Akane sighed. She knew this meant he'd be gone for the day. Perhaps the week. She looked at Ranma and smiled. *He's being so gentlemanly. Why not?* Nodding to him, she finally spoke. "Yes Ranma. I'd like very much to have dinner with you tonight."

Ranma's heart leapt from his chest and he smiled from ear to ear. "Great! I'll make you anything ya want. You choose."

Akane realized Ranma had meant dinner at his place. She was taken aback, but was not about to break a date she made less than a minute ago. She simply smiled and replied politely. "Surprise me." With that, she turned and went to make-up. Ranma waited till she was out of sight, then jumped ten feet in the air and let out a yell that was so loud with enthusiasm, one of the crewmen dropped a set prop on their foot.

"YEEEEEAAAAAAHHHOOOOOO!!!!"

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And so ends part 1 of our story. Please feel free to rate and review ^_^


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Ranma 1/2. Nor do I own any other recognized series/characters that may appear in this story. Characters and series elements are copyright of their respective owners.

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**A/N:** Okay, I promised you crossovers and they kick off in this chapter. Also, you're probably starting to notice that the characters' "real life" personalities are quite different from the Ranma 1/2 characters we know and love. In some case polar opposites. Feel free to send me feedback on my warped versions on Takahashi-sama's beloved characters. Enjoy the story!

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**Chapter 2**

The director motioned Ranma over, explaining that since Ryouga had gotten lost again, they were going ahead to Ranma's next scene at Ucchan's. Ranma nodded and motioned for Ukyo to join him on-set.

"Okay people, this is a take. Lights, Camera one..." Two calls of "Ready" came from the crew. "Annnnnd,..... ACTION!"

Ranma walked into Ucchan's rubbing his head. Ukyo took this as her cue and began the scene's dialogue. "Hey there Ranma-Honey! What's eatin' ya?" she said with a look made up of both pleasure and concern.

"Aww man! It ain't fair, Ucchan. I try'n stop the freak from stealin' underwear an' I get malleted by Akane jus' cause she caught me with a pair of her panties!"

Ukyo immediately sported a face worthy of the phrase 'If looks could kill' as she glared at Ranma. "What were you doing with Akane's panties, you jackass!?" she screamed, her spatula saying hello to the already evident lump on Ranma's skull. Ranma immediately shot back at the accusation.

"It ain't my fault! The ol' perv threw 'em at me, okay!?" he roared as he rubbed his head a second time. Ukyo was just about to offer Ranma his usual okonomiaki special when the director intervened.

"Cut, cut, CUT!! Ranma, what's wrong with you? You're severely ticked at this whole experience. You're not supposed to be smiling!"

Ranma blinked and Ukyo followed suit as she took a closer look at Ranma's expression. The director was right. Ukyo had been focusing on her part so much that she hadn't noticed, but Ranma had had a smile on his face through the entire scene. *What's he so happy about?* she wondered.

Ranma turned a slight pink at the director's words and quickly covered it up with a cough. "Ahem, sorry. Can we do another take?" Ranma quickly forced himself to focus and put on his acting face, this time full of anger and agitation. Though in the back of his mind, all he could hear were Akane's words from before. The director sighed, but seeing all seemed ready, he called for a second take.

---

Meanwhile, Ryouga was agitated for real as he realized he was lost yet again. Luckily for him, he was still on the studio grounds. Now it was just a matter of getting back to the right set.

"Great, Just great. I'm supposed to be shooting my scene right now. I'm probably holding up the whole production." The director never did tell Ryouga they filmed scenes out of sequence when he got lost. He preferred to let the young actor think it was his brilliant directing that got the job done on schedule. Occasionally, he'd even give credit to the editing department.

Ryouga wandered up to a door marked 'Stage #6' and opened it. Inside he saw a crew much like his own, but the set design was drastically different. People seemed to be on break, so at least he hadn't ruined any takes with his entrance. He looked to his left and saw a boy his age that looked a lot like Ranma. His clothes were different, but Ryouga figured that was wardrobe's doing. Smiling at his ability to get back to the correct set so quickly, Ryouga walked up to him. The boy turned to see who was approaching him and upon seeing Ryouga, blinked in surprise, then became a tad miffed.

"Hey kid. What're you doing here? This is a closed set. There's a lot of heavy machinery around here ya'know." The boy put down a gun prop he'd been holding and walked up to Ryouga "You could get hurt if you don't know what yer doing. Ya better get going." Ryouga looked around the set. There was indeed a LOT of machinery. BIG machinery. And the boy didn't act like he recognized Ryouga either. This obviously wasn't Ranma. *Guess I shouldn't praise myself just yet..* he thought as it became clear this was the wrong set.

Ryouga bowed politely and headed out the door. As the door shut he heard the voice of whom he could only assume was the director .

"Hey, Maxwell! Quit fooling around and get over here! We're about to shoot the cell break scene!"

"Oops, sorry chief!"

---

Sometime later, Ranma was in his trailer. He had shot all his scenes and was packing up for the day. His smile was wider than ever now. He was minutes away from meeting Akane at her trailer to escort her to his home for a quiet dinner. As he gathered up the last of his things he realized his acting wasn't quite done for the evening. Although he had every intention of being himself around Akane, he didn't want to scare her away. So, he would need to use all of his skills as an actor to tone down his emotions to a level his date could feel comfortable with.

Ranma gulped. Having the word 'date' run through his mind made him nervous. He wanted so badly to make a good impression. He grabbed his tote-bag and locked the trailer.

On his way down to Akane's trailer, he bumped into something, or some one. The distracted Ranma looked up from the floor and smiled. "Sorry 'bout that, Mousse."

Mousse grinned and helped Ranma to his feet. "Best watch where you're going, Saotome. You've been out of it all day." Ranma chuckled and let the comment go. The last thing he needed was to give away what had been on his mind. Choosing to take a safer route, he changed the subject.

"Well, everyone has off days. Say Mousse, don't you have a date with Shampoo tonight? Yer gonna be late if ya stay here talkin' ta me."

Mousse rolled his eyes. "Don't remind me. I can't believe I let you set us up."

Ranma let out a chuckle as the in-character cry of his colleague played through his head. *'Shampoooooo!!!!!!'*

"Aw, c'mon Mousse. She's a nice girl. Besides, she's my best friend. I wanna see her happy. An' I know she likes ya."

Mousse nodded and stubbornly trodded off to Shampoo's trailer. As Ranma turned to go to Akane's, he heard Mousse call back to him. "Oh, Saotome.."

"Huh?"

"You dropped something."

Ranma looked back and sure enough there was a small box on the floor that had fallen from his bag. It was a tiny jewelry box that held a gold necklace Ranma had bought for Akane a year after they started working together on the series. Ranma kept it with him, never really having the nerve to give it to her yet. It was small enough that Ranma would have left it behind unnoticed. Grateful to his colleague, Ranma picked up the box, put it safely away and turned to thank Mousse. "Thanks man. I never would have spotted it." Ranma's thanks would not be received, for Mousse was already gone.

---

Finally after what seemed like the longest walk of his life, Ranma reached Akane's trailer. He knocked softly on the door and smiled as it opened to reveal the girl he longed for. She was dressed in a dolled up version of her street clothes, not wanting to put on just any old thing for a date. Her white pants and violet blouse made her look radiant to Ranma, who had used all his strength to hold out his hand to her politely without grabbing her in a hug. Akane smiled and held her black leather purse to her as she took Ranma's outstretched hand and exited the studio with him on their way to the parking lot.

Ranma held the door open to a red mustang convertible that had the license plate bearing his name. Akane smiled and slid gracefully into the passenger seat. For the first little bit, things seemed normal as Ranma's car pulled out of the studio parking lot. He weaved carefully through the hordes of fans the way he always did, stopping only briefly for an autograph or two. Ranma was used to this and considered it part of his normal daily routine. But this time he took notice that something was different. There were twice as many fans surrounding his car and the male to female ratio was a lot more even than usual. Not only that, but he noticed one of the fan girls crying out in true otaku fashion "Ohhhhhh, he's taken!!!".

That's when it hit him. Akane was in his car this time and half the horde was ogling at her, wanting her autograph. More than that, he and Akane almost looked like a couple to their fans. This made Ranma smile. *If only it were true..* he thought as he pulled his car free of the hordes, heading for his house.

---

Ranma tried in vain to keep his eyes on the road, but he kept finding himself stealing glances at Akane. A wonderful thing, traffic lights. "It ain't much further to my house." he said, breaking the silence. Akane, who had just sat there smiling at the city looked back at him and responded "You live in a beautiful district.".

"Thanks Akane" Ranma said as he promptly turned his gaze to the road in effort to hide the blush that was taking over his cheeks.

Akane's mind was still filled with concern for Ryouga's whereabouts, but vowed not to let it become obvious to Ranma. Partly because she saw no reason to ruin a perfectly good dinner and partly because she was unaware anyone knew of her relationship with Ryouga. Not that it was anything that serious. She had noticed Ryouga's tendency to move fast, but he seemed more willing to live with the moment than think of a long lasting relationship. And long lasting was what Akane wanted. Shrugging inwardly to herself, she smiled at Ranma to put any notions to rest of there being anything on her mind. He smiled back just as they pulled into his driveway.

---

Ryouga meanwhile was still wandering around lost back at the studio. He had given up for the day on finding his set, now more interested in finding a place to crash for the night. Everything was closed up and the setting sun would only provide Ryouga with light for so long. After dark, the studio was even harder to navigate than in daylight.

Ryouga wandered through a door marked 'Stage #3' and looked around. The whole place was in darkness and completely deserted. He leapt up on a support beam for a better view of where he was. Seeing mostly darkness, he could just make out to his immediate left what appeared to be a comfortable cushion inside some sort of enclosure. *Looks good enough.* he thought as he leapt down through an opening in the enclosure's ceiling and settled into the soft, inviting cushion to go to sleep.

---

"C'mon in!" Ranma called behind him as he showed Akane inside his home. Ranma walked ahead to the kitchen to get some drinks and motioned for Akane to help herself to her seat of choice in his living room. "Make yerself at home. I'll get us something to drink before dinner. What'll ya have?" he called out.

"Tea is fine, thanks." Akane answered, before she was cut off by a soft noise.

"Meow.." Akane smiled as the cat rubbed against her leg. "Why hello there. Who might you be, kitty?"

Ranma, who was bringing Akane her tea, smiled as he saw the cat. "Don't mind her, she's harmless. She probably just wants to be fed. Be back in a sec." he said as he returned to the kitchen to retrieve a small can.

Akane bent down to pet the cat as she noticed its' collar. It had a small gold heart hanging from it with the name 'Scarlet' engraved in big italic lettering. Akane blinked and smiled when she had a thought. Either Ranma was a fan of old American movies, or he had thoughtfully named his cat after his co-star. Akane softly scratched the purring ball of fur behind its' ears and sat quietly as Ranma returned with a plate of cat food which he placed next to the coffee table. As Ranma sat down, with his drink, Akane decided to tease him.

"Your cat has a lovely name." she said with a smile. Ranma became flushed as he fidgeted in his seat next to Akane. "Y.. yeah, well it just kinda came to me.." he stammered out.

Akane smiled. *This could be a nice evening after all.* she thought.


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Ranma 1/2. Nor do I own any other recognized series/characters that may appear in this story. Characters and series elements are copyright of their respective owners.

* * *

**Chapter 3**

"No no no no NO!!!! Can't you brain dead bakas get anything right!? I asked for a cappuccino, not an espresso! Take it back! And get this dumb animal away from me!!!" The crewman jumped back as the wrath of the spoiled rotten actress threatened his job AND his life with its' fury. "B...but Miss Kasumi. You asked me for an espresso. I'm certain of it.

"Are you calling me a LIAR?!!!" the furious Kasumi retorted as she shoved a poor helpless Mr. Panda out of her way. It was a lot easier to yell without 500 pounds of fur in your face. "I should be getting paid twice as much rather than letting the studio waste my raise money on your worthless salary!! Now out of my way!"

Ranma shook his head as he entered the studio. *She's like that every morning..* he thought to himself as he watched the furious Kasumi storm past him toward make-up. Ranma headed to his trailer to dump his things before going over to wardrobe. As he walked, he saw Akane entering her trailer across the lot. Smiling a distant smile, he recalled the previous evening.

---

Dinner had gone over wonderfully. Akane seemed to enjoy the meal, she had complimented him on his home and she was a great conversationalist. Ranma found this out once he got over his shyness long enough to talk to her for more than two sentences. As he dropped her off at her house, Ranma stood fidgeting with his hands in his pockets. Unknown to Akane, he was clutching the jewelry box, no doubt trying to work up the nerve to present it to her.

"Well, I had a nice evening, Ranma. Thank you." Akane stated as she unlocked her door. Ranma smiled and blushed a little as he forced out a sentence.

"Glad to hear it Akane. I had a great time. I'm glad ya liked my cookin'."

Akane smiled. "Well, good night." and turned to go inside.

"Akane.." Ranma had said this without thinking and was unprepared for what he wanted to come next. He held the box tight in his pocketed hand and gulped, entranced in her gaze. He found himself biting his lip, though he wanted to do a very different action with it instead.

"Yes?"

"See ya in the mornin'.."

---

Ranma let out a sigh, much like the one he had let out that night. The one he let out after he lost his nerve. After he passed up the chance to end the date on a very special note. Ashamed of his shyness, Ranma headed to wardrobe to change for his first scene.

---

Akane, who had faintly caught Ranma's smile, let out a sigh as she sat on the step in front of her trailer's door. She was so lost in thought that she didn't hear the footsteps approaching her.

"Akane, you are always so bright and cheerful in the morning. Might I ask what has you acting any different today?"

Akane's head jerked up at the sudden presence of the voice addressing her. "Oh! Good morning Kodachi. It's nothing, really. I was just wondering if Ryouga managed to make it back for today's shoot."

Kodachi eyed Akane curiously. What was it about that Hibiki fellow that kept her attention? Nodding politely, she smiled to her colleague.

"I am certain he will be fine. It is not as if this is an isolated incident. Hibiki-san has gotten lost on many occasions and yet he always manages to return."

Akane nodded. She was still worried, but she knew Kodachi was right. Besides, she had the rest of her script to memorize before her first scene began. She couldn't afford to worry right now. With a slight nod, Akane let Kodachi know she agreed.

"I trust you're ready for today's shoot." Kodachi commented, noting Akane was casting frequent glances at the script in her lap. "I feel so alive today. Dear Tatewaki gave me a special evening last night. The poor dear slaved over a hot stove just for me. Now that's love." she continued, a starry gleam in her eyes.

Akane paused and only managed to blink at Kodachi's words. What she had said made sense. Though she could never recall Ryouga cooking her dinner. Yet, she had just had a delightful evening with Ranma where he did just that. But it was silly to think anything significant was meant by it, right? Ranma Saotome was the stuck up, foot-in-mouth, jerk Akane fought with on camera. Wasn't he?

"Well, I'd better go rehearse my laugh and prepare for another day of fighting with my *ahem*, 'brother'." Kodachi finished as she walked off leaving Akane alone once again.

---

The director was pacing back and forth. Ranma had just emerged from wardrobe and was ready for his fight scene between himself, Mousse and Ryouga.

"Mousse'll be out in a minute, Nishimura-san." Ranma called as he took his place on-set. The director just kept pacing, his only change in expression being a slight roll of the eyes.

"Tell Mousse he can put down the props, Ranma. We still can't find Ryouga anywhere. We'll film Mousse's scene at the Neko Hanten first."

"Aw, man!" Ranma complained. "That jerk ain't back yet? I was lookin' forward ta warmin' up with this scene." Ranma cracked his knuckles in anticipation of Ryouga's return and proceeded to walk off-set. On his way out, he put his hand on Mousse's shoulder and winked teasingly at the boy.

"Have fun with yer scene with Shampoo, Mousse."

Mousse grumbled as a chuckling Ranma walked away and a blushing, giggly Shampoo came on-set and shot a satisfied smile in Mousse's direction.

---

Elsewhere on the studio, a man with a megaphone demanded the attention of an entire cast and crew. He was directing the crew like a traffic cop, telling them where to set down some of the set's smaller props. His eyes fell on three actors as they entered the set.

"Okay kiddies, mouths closed and eyes front! This is a take! Now remember, I want to see tons of confusion. The monkey wrench has been thrown into everything your little brains can understand, so make me believe it!" Three calls of "Got it!" came back in reply as the director started to count down the scene.

"Aannnd....ACTION!"

Ryouga was at that peaceful place between asleep and awake when he began to dream of one of his scenes with him, Ranma and Akane. He could even hear the dialogue the three of them spoke, though some of it made very little sense.

"This is all your fault Ranma! I won't allow you to talk to Akane that way!" Ryouga exclaimed in his classic, in-character fashion.

"H - O - P - E 'Hope'?" Akane replied, which made Ryouga blink, but he went on with his lines regardless.

"Ranma Saotome, PREPARE TO DIE!!" he screamed as he launched a kick at Ranma's face. Ranma just stood there as Ryouga's kick didn't even phase him.

"Ranma, fight me! What's wrong with you?" Ryouga demanded.

"Whatever it is, it's totally revolting.." Ranma answered quite calmly. This made Ryouga do a double-take. *Is that in the script?* he thought, quite puzzled.

"Cut, cut, cut, and cease all movement at once!!!" came a scream from out of nowhere as Ryouga awoke with a start and saw a young boy who looked about seven to ten years old staring him in the face. Ryouga sat up suddenly and continued to blink at the boy as the same voice once again spoke up.

"Gohan, my creative vision, she's growing impatient, she's dying here! What is the holdup?"

"Some guy fell asleep in the time machine!" the boy called back. Then turning again to Ryouga, grabbed his arm and continued. "Hey Mister. get outta there. That's an expensive prop!" Before Ryouga could say 'Where in the world am I now?', he was flung headfirst out of his seat and lying on his back looking up at two very miffed actors.

"I don't know who you are!!!....." the woman screamed.

"....But could you please leave? I'm not signing autographs for any guys' girlfriends now. I'm trying to do a scene here." The young man next to her finished.

Ryouga rolled his eyes, bowed out a quick apology and headed out the door, mumbling. "At least I'm not playing a character named after underwear, prettyboy..."

---

"Aiyaah! Shampoo no have time for this! Shampoo go find Ranma now!" Shampoo quickly leapt off camera as her last line for the scene was delivered faster than ramen take-out. Mousse caught his cue and began to go after her when he found himself caught on something. "And just where do you think you're going, boy? We have deliveries to make. And with Shampoo gone, you'll have to cover hers as well." Cologne stated in a matter-of-fact voice topped off with a smirk.

"I won't lose Shampoo you dried up old monkey!!" Mousse shot back as Cologne's staff knocked him clear out of the Neko Hanten and into the path of a nearby fountain.

"CUT!" the director called as as soaking wet Mousse emerged from the falling water. "I wish he would chase me for real, and not just some on-screen pretend act." Shampoo whispered to Ranma, who was now standing next to her, just off-set.

"Give him time. He'll come 'round." replied Ranma as he leaned over to whisper back. His face then took on a look of extreme innocence as Mousse passed by them both while wringing his hair out. Shampoo quickly followed Mousse and Ranma walked casually over to Sasuke, who was just removing his 'Cologne' wig.

"Studyin' the script again?" Ranma said as he peered over Sasuke's shoulder.

"Yes indeed Ranma. I spend most of my time doing so as you well know. It's not easy playing three parts." Sasuke replied, his eyes not straying from the pages.

Ranma smirked. He had to admire Sasuke. The man had three roles. The Kuno's sneaky ninja, the old perv Happosai and the amazon tribe elder. All in all, he should have been the highest paid there. But, since all of his roles were supporting cast, they were just enough pooled together to get equal pay with Ryouga. Ranma had always figured they should pay the man more strictly on the principle that he had to dress in drag a third of the time. Deciding it best to leave Sasuke to study his lines, Ranma headed over to the water cooler. Taking a quick drink, he calculated how much time was left until he'd be needed on-set again. Ryouga still hadn't been located. Which meant they would be doing Ukyo and Kodachi's scene next. This left Ranma free until the end of lunch. Smiling, he went off to locate Akane.

---

Akane sat by herself outside her trailer. She was just about to bite into the pork buns she had packed for lunch when she saw a crewman struggling with numerous cups of coffee. Akane put down her lunch on the step and walked over to the man.

"Here, let me help you with that. Goodness, what ever possessed you to try and carry so many cups of hot coffee?" she asked. The crewman steadied himself and rolled his eyes before replying.

"It's Miss Kasumi. She's a caffeine addict. Every day she demands this many cups just on her lunch break alone! Surely you must have noticed before, Miss Akane?"

Akane blinked and took half of the cups from the crewman, carrying them herself as she accompanied him to the next trailer over. As the crewman knocked on the door with his knee, a yell from inside was heard.

"That had better be my coffee! You slowpokes sure took your sweet time getting it! Leave it on the table outside and get out! I'm busy!"

Akane sighed and headed back to her trailer to eat her lunch. Even though Kasumi's trailer was right next to hers, Akane had been spared most of her co-star's screaming fits. The more Akane thought about it though, the more sense it made. Kasumi had one of the most active, non-combatant roles in the series. Nearly every scene she was in, she was on the move. Sweeping, cooking, doing the laundry, and every other household chore the role called for. So naturally, she'd be tired without a pick-me-up. Akane sat down and took a bite out of her pork bun as if nothing had happened.

---

"Hey Akane." came a voice from above that gave Akane a start. She looked up, and there was Ranma, a shy smile on his face as he looked down at her. "I was gonna ask ya if ya wanted ta have lunch with me er sumthin'..." he trailed off as he saw she was already eating. "..but it looks like ya brought yer own." he said with a shy yet somewhat disappointed smile. Akane smiled back and decided to repay Ranma for the meal he had cooked her the previous night.

"I have more in my trailer if you'd like to join me, Ranma." she said as she got up to open the trailer door. Ranma blinked at the invite, not expecting to ever be allowed to set foot in Akane's trailer. But he wasn't about to refuse her offer. "S..sure!" he blurted out with a wide eyed stare, shock still in his voice. With that, he followed Akane inside.

Her trailer was gorgeous. Much more professional looking than the mess in his own. Akane motioned for Ranma to have a seat at the small table inside. He nodded and sat down politely, determined to give off the impression of a proper guest. Ranma subconsciously put his hand in his pocket and blushed furiously when he realized he was still carrying the small jewelry box intended for Akane. Akane saw him blushing and shrugged. Letting out a small smile, she placed a plate of food in front of Ranma. Akane couldn't help but laugh a little. She was imagining art imitating life as the image of Ranma turning a rather insulting nose up at her cooking came to mind. Akane quickly snapped out of her reverie as she noticed Ranma had politely and without hesitation taken a morsel of food from the plate and into his mouth. Akane watched, nearly as hopeful as her in-character persona as Ranma swallowed the bite.

"Akane, this's delicious! Yer an amazin' cook!" Ranma said with a smile as he took another bite, twice the size of the first. Akane smiled and sat down with her own plate identical to his.

"Why thank you, Ranma. That's very sweet of you. I'll have you know that off camera, I'm quite the little gourmet."

She finished her statement with a giggle that Ranma thought was the cutest noise he'd ever heard. He smiled and continued eating his lunch, taking time to look around Akane's trailer, since he figured he'd never get the chance to be inside it again. But more importantly, he stole glances at Akane at every opportunity. *Man, even when she's eating, she's beautiful.* he thought. Ranma gulped down another morsel of food as he got up the nerve to speak.

"Um, I had a great time at dinner last night Akane. It was great cookin' for ya. Though if I'd known what a great cook ya were, I would've tried ta make our dinner a little fancier." Ranma let out a soft, nervous laugh as Akane smiled.

"It's okay Ranma. Dinner was wonderful. I could tell you put a lot of effort into it." It was only as she heard her own words that Akane realized the implication behind them. It would go unnoticed to Ranma, but Akane's mind flashed back to her earlier conversation with Kodachi.

*"The poor dear slaved over a hot stove just for me. Now that's love."* The words echoed in her mind as she sat there. But she quickly shooed them away before Ranma could notice anything was wrong. Ranma finished the last of his meal and stood up to give Akane a formal bow. As he rose to his feet he forced out a sentence he'd been silently working on since he had sat down.

"Thanks for havin' me. Maybe you could..." He could feel the sweat building on his brow. "..come over for dinner again sometime?" Akane blinked in surprise. She had not expected Ranma to ask her out again. When she saw Ranma was going into a bow, she held up her hand to stop him, feeling she did not deserve such a formal thanks. It was only lunch after all. As she brought her hand up, Ranma completed his bow. The downward angle of his head met with her hand and before he knew it, he had accidentally brushed his lips across the back of it. Mortified, a beet red Ranma quickly stood upright and put his hand behind his head as he simply stared at the shocked Akane before him.

Uh err, I better get goin'. See ya round Akane!" Ranma blurted out as he backed out of the trailer as fast as he could. *Oh man! Now I've done it. She'll think I'm some kinda casanova. I can't believe I did that!* Ranma sprinted away to his own trailer, his entire body as red as his chinese shirt. Akane, stood silent at her doorstep and simply stared at the red speck disappearing into the distance as her other hand came up to cover the one that had received the kiss.

* * *

**A/N:**

(kept to the end to avoid spoilers)

- The crossovers in this fic are a big melting pot of old and new anime. They range from series made around the same time as Ranma, to older, to fairly recent. For the purposes of the fic, it's assumed that each one was "filmed" around the same time period.

- Some crossovers are downright obvious while others are kept a bit vague. Sometimes too vague *sweatdrop* For the DBZ crossover I actually re-wrote the scene. Originally, the clues were the time machine and the characters' lines that Ryouga heard half asleep. However, those lines were taken from the english dub and we all know dubs and subs differ in dialogue slightly so I threw a bit more obviousness into the scene. Most notably, Gohan's name.

That's about it for now. To the Kasumi fans out there, please don't kill me. Then again, since no Ryouga fans have killed me for turning him into a sexist... well.. pig, I think I'm safe for now. Thanks for the reviews I've gotten so far. Happy reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Ranma 1/2. Nor do I own any other recognized series/characters that may appear in this story. Characters and series elements are copyright of their respective owners.

* * *

**A/N:** This chapter continues the two slowly established traditions of this fic. Polar opposite traits within the characters and tons of in jokes. I try to keep some in jokes slightly obscure (for example, Ranma's car being a red mustang convertible. 'Ranma Saotome' translates to 'wild horse') but others are more obvious such as names of the actual cast and crew of the real Ranma 1/2 series cropping up. Speaking of which, keep an eye out for the biggest in joke of that nature in this chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

Ranma sat on the steps of his own trailer, his hands trying in vain to cover his flushed face.*I'm a jerk. A total jerk! I can't believe I went an' kissed Akane like that!* "Ranma no baka.." He was so lost in thought that Ranma didn't realize that last part was spoken aloud.

"Since when do you practice Akane's lines?"

Ranma jumped and struggled to regain his composure as he looked to his left.

"Nabiki!" he said, quite surprised to see her. Nabiki didn't have many scenes that day so she really didn't need to come in to work till much later. "You didn't answer my question." Nabiki stated, cutting him off. "Why the Akane impression?"

Ranma was trying his hardest not to blush. The last thing he needed was the entire studio knowing of his feelings for his co-star. Desperate, he thought of the most non-romantic thing he could. He pictured Sasuke changing into the Cologne costume. *Mental note; thank Sasuke later.* he thought as he looked to Nabiki, his blush completely gone.

"It was just a slip o' the tongue Nabiki. I uh, forgot my script in wardrobe! Yeah that's it. Need ta rehearse my next scene before lunch ends." Ranma looked at her, hoping his fib fooled her. He was a lousy liar on and off camera. Fortunately for him, Nabiki bought his story and simply shrugged.

"Whatever. I'm just killing time, myself. I already ate my lunch." Ranma looked at her and pointed gently to her sweater, trying not to appear perverted.

"You've got some okonomiaki sauce on yer shirt." he stated quickly.

Nabiki groaned. "Don't remind me. Ukyo's been following me around since her scene with Kodachi was over. I've had so many okonomiaki's stuffed down my throat, I'm gonna throw up....." Ranma smirked."She means well. If it's anything like what she does ta me on camera, it's a sign she wants ta be nice to ya."

Nabiki nodded reluctantly. She had to admit what Ranma said was true. It was the constant hugs and invites for coffee that creeped her out.

"Well I need to be going. I'm supposed to see Taga-san in the office." Nabiki stated as she turned to go.

"Askin' fer a raise are ya?" Ranma called after her questioningly. Nabiki looked back and shook her head. "No, I'm going to see if I can get this month's paycheck diverted from my account to the local hospital. They need a few new beds." As Nabiki disappeared into the crowd of people on-set, Ranma smiled in thought. *She's gotta be the most generous person I know. 'Course she can afford it. She's got her father's bucks ta fall back on. Not that she ever would. Too proud. Bein' a millionaire's daughter ain't sumthin' Nabiki likes ta be known for.* As he settled back against his trailer door he heard a voice in the distance.

"Nab-chan! Where are you? I cooked you some dessert." As Ukyo went running by, looking in all directions, Ranma let out a soft laugh.

* * *

Ryouga wandered around, grumbling quite audibly. Although he had received multiple weird stares, he could care less. He was sick of walking into the wrong set, ending up with the wrong crew. He wanted nothing more to get back to his own sound-stage so that he could do his fight scene with Ranma and Mousse. Ryouga was majorly ticked at getting lost for so long and beating up on Ranma sounded pretty good right now. Suddenly Ryouga heard a familiar voice ahead of him.

"You think a dozen dimwit bandits like you is gonna scare me? Ha!"

Ryouga blinked and ran up ahead to where a girl was standing, practicing her lines. She was around his own age, was dressed in very strange clothing, complete with boots, belt and cape. And she had long flowing red hair. But there was something eerily familiar about her eyes. Ryouga stared at her for a minute until she looked straight at him, almost as if sensing he was there.

Ryouga blinked. "Ranko!? Is that you?" He looked her over quite confused, wondering if they had severely changed the script on him while he was away.

"Ryouga, you baka! What're you doing here? Wait, don't tell me. You got lost again."

Ryouga frowned at the snappy retort. "Hey at least I found my way back didn't I? And what's with the new clothes, Ranko? Are we doing another Nan-ban mirror episode that I don't know about? What'd they do to your hair?"

The red-headed actress slapped her forehead as she tossed the orangy-red wig off her head and onto the ground. "It's a wig, moron! Could you be any dumber? Look, call me Megumi, would you? People are listening."

Ryouga blinked. "But didn't you legally change to your character name like the rest of us?" he asked. Ranko nodded exasperatingly. "Yes, but I signed this contract before that. This isn't our set, dummy. It's the 'Slayers' set. I work two gigs 'round here. I thought you knew that. Everyone knows that!" Ryouga simply blinked again. Obviously he was in the dark on this matter.

"Okay Ran-....eh, Megumi-sama. So where's our set, anyway?" he inquired impatiently.

"I'll lead you back there in a sec. Stay here while I get changed." With that, Ranko headed off to wardrobe to change into her street clothes.

* * *

Back at the sound-stage, Shampoo was standing outside wardrobe arguing with Mousse. She had been acting extra nice toward him all day and had received not so much as a glance cast in her general direction. All in all, she was close to her own personal 'breaking point' with the guy. He had ignored, snubbed and all but insulted her. Mouse put on the coke-bottle glasses required for his character and glared at her.

"Just what is your problem with me, Shampoo? You've been following me around all day and now you corner me here to yell in my face. I went out with you didn't I? What do you want from me?"

Shampoo bit her lip and held back a tear she'd been struggling to keep back since their argument started. "Have you no sense of gentlemanly behavior at all? You are decent and friendly to everyone on this set with the exception of me! Was going out with me really as bad as having your teeth pulled?" Shampoo lost her control there just enough to lose the battle with that tear drop. Not noticing and too emotionally wraught, she continued.

"I'm sorry if I annoy you immensely with my presence! I was only being nice to you! I like you, you baka! If that's so terrible, then you needn't worry about me pestering you ever again!!"

With that last word out of her system, Shampoo broke down into tears and ran away. Mousse could only stand there in shock. He would have had to be as blind as his character to not notice Shampoo's tears. *I...I made her cry..* he thought, still stunned.

* * *

Mousse had never been in a relationship before. He was very serious about his work as an actor and had put it first in his life. This left little time for socializing. All in all, he had grown used to things that way and thought little of it. As long as he had his work, he was happy. He stood there thinking back to his initial response when Ranma had given him the news of his date with Shampoo. It all came back to him, just like a scene from the show.

Mousse had been going over his lines as Ranma clapped a hand on the back of his shoulder in his usual style of greeting. "Hiya Mousse. Have I got some news for you, man!"

Mousse looked at his colleague and frowned. Being interrupted from memorizing his script was something he hated. "This had better be good, Ranma." he muttered.

"Sure is. I solved yer dilemma for tonight!" Ranma said with a satisfied grin. Mousse looked at him funny. "Dilemma? I have no dilemma."

Ranma chucked his colleague playfully across his shoulder. "Sure ya do, man. You always have such a boring time at home on Friday nights. So I got ya a date with Shampoo!"

"You WHAT!??" Mousse yelled as he spun around to fully face Ranma. But Ranma had already turned to go and simply called back one final time as he disappeared from sight.

"No need ta thank me, man. Have fun on yer date!"

Mousse sighed as that memory finished playing in his head. The only reason he had objected so much to Ranma's little set up was because he already had his evening planned out. He was going to go over the scripts for the following week's shoots. He would be following this with his nightly self-training session. Mousse had his whole routine planned out in detail and having it upset did not sit well with him. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that his real problem was change. Having a relationship take a part in his life would take major adjustment. This was something he wasn't used to, and so pushing Shampoo away seemed an easy solution. More than that, he began to realize he had thoroughly enjoyed his evening with her. They had gone to a five star restaurant, taken in a movie, and walked home through one of the district's nicer parks. All in all, he had no complaints about the experience. *"I like you, you baka!"*

Shampoo's words rang through Mousse's mind as clear as the image of her tear streaked face. *I'm an idiot.....* he thought as he cast his head downward and walked off to the set for his next scene.

* * *

Akane had emerged from her trailer and was taking a last glance at her script when she heard Kasumi's trailer door open. Kasumi walked out and smiled calmly at Akane. *Calmly?? She's never calm before the director says action. What's going on?* Akane thought puzzled.

"Oh my, hello Akane. Ready to shoot our next scene?" Kasumi said with a quite in-character trademark smile. Akane reminded herself to close her mouth and snap out of 'shocked as hell' mode before replying.

"Ahh, uh hello Kasumi. Yes, I was just looking over the script one last time before going on. Um, how are you feeling?" By this time a few crewmen and cast members had heard the unusually calm lack of noise and come to investigate.

"Why, I'm feeling wonderfully Akane. Thank you for asking. I feel so relaxed. Did you have a nice lunch?" Several pairs of eyes stood blinking as Akane simply nodded back to the eerily calm Kasumi. Kasumi smiled pleasantly and walked off in the direction of wardrobe, leaving several people uttering confused questions.

"What the hell was that?" said a crewman.

"She's actually being nice. What the?" stated another.

"She was yelling like crazy before." said the crewman that Akane had helped with Kasumi's coffee delivery. Suddenly a faint snicker came from behind the crowd. As it grew steadily louder, the crowd of confused people parted to reveal Tatewaki, sporting a sneaky grin on his face. "Oh, she just enjoyed all that wonderful coffee you left on the table for her." he said while stifling a laugh.

"What do you mean, Tatewaki? And how did you know where we left Kasumi's coffee?" Akane asked. She was now just as intrigued as she was confused. Tatewaki let out a chuckle and looked around at everyone as if to answer the entire crowd's confusion.

"I mean I gave her the old switcheroo! It's amazing what a little decaf can do, wouldn't you say?" he blurted out forcefully before a giggle fit cut off his capability to speak. Everyone blinked as Tatewaki Kuno fell on the floor laughing. *So that's why she's so calm now.* Akane thought *I hope she'll have enough energy to get through the scene.*

Tatewaki was still laughing and receiving some odd stares as a voice came up from behind him. "Ahem!!" He looked up and saw an angry Kodachi glaring down at him with cold eyes and crossed arms.

"Tate-kun! What is the matter with you?! I expressly asked you to refrain from pulling anymore of these childish pranks!" Kodachi roared. Tatewaki's laughter immediately silenced as a look of disappointment and intimidation overtook his features. The rest of the crowd slowly backed away, not wanting to get in the way of Kodachi when she was that ticked.

"Oh, but Koda-chan..." he whined. "..It was only a little joke." Kodachi said nothing, choosing instead to intensify her stare toward her husband.

Tatewaki Kuno regained his somewhat dignified voice, realizing not only was he making a scene, but he was getting nowhere with his case. "I'm on the couch again aren't I..." he said softly. Kodachi gave a firm nod and reached down to grab his ear, pulling him to his feet and dragging him off with it firmly in hand. Only then did the rest of the crowd start uttering giggles of their own.

* * *

"Alright everyone, shooting resumes in five minutes." The cast and crew wrapped up their idle conversations and began final preparations at the director's call. As the director eased into his chair, he saw Ranma walk over from wardrobe.

"So what's the next scene Nishimura-san? D'ya need me yet?" the young star asked. Meanwhile, a figure was slowly edging forward from the crowd. It was Akane. She stood silent, her gaze locked thoughtfully on Ranma as he spoke to the director. Akane had not seen Ranma since he left her trailer and she was still quite enchanted by the accidental kiss that graced her hand. She watched as Ranma's posture shifted slightly and thought back as his sudden request of a future date came back to her. *I never did give him an answer.* she thought. *He's so sweet. Maybe I could....*

At the same time Akane was lost in thought, the director was answering Ranma's question. "I wish I could tell you Ranma. The scenes have all been scrambled. I wanted to do your fight scene next since you and Mousse are both ready..." he stated as he glanced over at Mousse who had just emerged from the prop room. "..but without Ryouga here.." he continued. Then as if on cue, one of the other cast members came bounding in, making her presence known quite audibly.

"Hey kiddies, I'm back! Ready for my close-up as usual! And looky what the red head dragged in!" Ranko marched up to the director with Ryouga in tow. Then with a huge grin, she pushed Ryouga forward and winked at the director. "You should give me an advance for retrieving him. He's been all over the darn lot!"

Akane snapped out of her thoughts of accepting Ranma's date the second she saw Ryouga. More to the point, he had seen her, and his sly smile complete with wink was more than enough to get her attention. She smiled back and blew him a quick kiss before anyone could spot it. Well, almost anyone. Ranma had been eyeing Akane ever since he noticed her standing there, and the unspoken exchange between her and Ryouga was more than his eyes cared to see.

"Well, I won't ask you where you've been Hibiki." said the director. "Let's just get this fight scene underway, okay?" With that Ranma, Ryouga and Mousse took their respective places and waited for the magic word. Ranma eyed Ryouga during what seemed like endless silence. This scene would prove all too easy and Ranma was more than ready.

"ACTION!"

* * *

The trio went through their various lines building up to the fight. For once, the lines didn't even register to Ranma. In fact, he could hear nothing. All sound ceased to exist. He merely spoke his lines without thinking, using the lack of movement in his colleagues' lips as cues. Finally, came the time for Ranma's first flurry of punches. He simply countered Mousse's attacks, much like any other convincing, yet choreographed fight. But Ryouga was another story. Those attacks were real. Here was someone who had the power to ruin the one thing he wanted most in the world. This person had gotten a better reaction with a smile, than Ranma had with an entire evening. Ranma seethed as Ryouga's first planned attack approached. Suddenly, Ranma let loose a flurry of punches and kicks, not holding back. Ryouga was taken aback and found himself attempting to go through choreographed moves while defending himself at the same time. Ranma's frustration left him with such incredible speed with every punch that the special effects department almost wouldn't need to boost his attacks to Amaguriken standards.

The director had blinked in awe as soon as Ranma had let loose. In no time, he swerved to the camera man and shouted "Are you getting this? Zoom in! I want this footage!!" Ranma, decided he'd vented enough and went back to his planned moves. With one mighty roundhouse kick, Ryouga was sent flying into a nearby fountain. The movement was part of the scene, but the force behind it was much stronger than the script called for.

"CUT! Good form there Ranma. Ease up on the kicks okay? Hibiki can take it, but let's not take any chances with my cast nonetheless." the director stated playfully.

"Sure thing.." Ranma responded in a dead flat tone as he came out of his follow through stance and stood seemingly relaxed. His back was turned to the cameras and the crew, so the sight of his gritting teeth would go unnoticed. Ryouga yelled over as he hopped down from the fountain. "WHAT'D YOU DO THAT FOR!?" Ranma simply ingored him and muttered. ".....that's 'my' line."

-----------------


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Ranma 1/2. Nor do I own any other recognized series/characters that may appear in this story. Characters and series elements are copyright of their respective owners.

* * *

**A/N:** Once again, I need to tell the readers to usher the kiddies out of the room as this chapter has a naughty bit or two. Other than that, chapter 5 sees the appearance of a few new characters and flushes out the details of some now familiar (albeit warped) faces. To the Ukyo fans out there, please refrain from coming after me with pitchforks. Hate mail....... well, as long as it's constructive criticism. Oh, and to the sci-fi fans out there, try not to groan too loud at the not so hidden Star Wars quote. I couldn't resist *evil grin*

* * *

Ryouga walked off the set, soaking wet. He was more than a little sore from the fight, but soon dismissed it as he casually walked over to Akane. Moving past him was one of the animal trainers with P-chan on a cushion. Ryouga reached the object of his desire just as the little piglet was placed on-set to resume the scene. As the fight wore on in the background, Ryouga stood in front of Akane and gave her a fangy grin."Hey Sweetlips, miss me?"

Akane blushed. Ryouga smiled and continued as he leaned in a little closer.

"I'll take that as a yes. What say you and I head for my trailer and make up for lost time?"

Akane nodded. "I can fill you in on what's been shot while you were away." she exclaimed.

"Why waste time talking?" Ryouga answered fiendishly. "Conversation is a lost art. And I can think of a lot more interesting things I'd rather see you do with your lips. I need to get out of these wet clothes. I'll be waiting if you care to join me." he finished at a whisper only Akane could hear. With that, he headed over to his trailer for some dry clothes.

* * *

Akane simply stood there. *He hasn't changed. Doesn't he love me? I mean really love me? Why doesn't he ever want to do anything other than...* Akane was too frustrated to blush at her own thoughts. Instead she was worried that all Ryouga cared about was his spontaneous concept of 'fun'. Letting out a sigh, Akane was set to watch the remainder of the fight scene when Shampoo came up beside her. "You look about as lousy as I feel.." she said quite blandly, not taking into account how her words may sound to Akane. Actually, what Shampoo really needed was for someone to listen. And by the look of Akane's face, she just might be the understanding ear the young actress was looking for.

"Excuse me? What do you mean by that, Shampoo?" Akane asked. She was pretty sure no one knew of her involvement with Ryouga, so her colleague must have been referring to something else. It was Shampoo's turn to sigh now. She looked on at the fight scene involving her love prospect and best friend, respectively and finally spoke.

"I went on a date with Mousse last night." she stated. Akane smiled at her. "I wasn't aware you two were seeing each other." she replied.

"We're not......." Shampoo said solemnly as she stared at him from afar. "Our date went so well. At least I thought it did....... but today all we did was argue. He hates me, Akane.."

Akane blinked. Less than a minute ago she was offering congratulations to Shampoo, now she found it was a completely different story.

"I'm sorry to hear you argued, but I'm sure Mousse doesn't hate you, Shampoo." Shampoo didn't even move. She simply continued to speak as she was.

"I even told him how I felt. He gives me no words of kindness, not one smile. All I am to him is an annoyance.." she began to cry as she forced out the rest. She had to get this off her chest or it would eat her up inside. "Love means you talk to the person. You enjoy being with them, being near them. The very sight of them makes you feel light inside, like a warmth that envelopes your heart. I feel all those things when I'm near Mousse. But he shows no such feelings toward me. Instead he barely speaks a word to me. What kind of love is that? With such lack of communication, how can I ever hope to mean anything to him? Maybe I should just give up......."

Akane's eyes widened at Shampoo's words. She slowly found herself spotting parallels between Shampoo's predicament and her own. Sure, Ryouga didn't hate her, or yell at her. But he rarely really talked with her either. When Shampoo spoke of Mousse, Akane tried to show she followed by glancing over at Mousse in response. But instead her gaze fell squarely on Ranma. It was at that moment that she felt something. She wasn't sure what it was, but it felt, warm. When Shampoo finished, Akane put her hand on her shoulder. As she spoke words of comfort, she found her eyes refused to unlock their present gaze.

"You shouldn't give up, Shampoo. Even if things seem rough at first. If you feel something that wonderful when you're around him, you should keep trying for what you want. A long lasting relationship."

Shampoo paused. She had never said anything about a 'long lasting relationship' in her confiding in Akane. Obviously she had just been witness to a slip of the tongue. Smiling, Shampoo looked at Akane's eyes and followed them to their target. When she saw it was Ranma Akane was staring at, she wondered if her best friend had finally gotten off his ass and told the girl how he felt.

"Thank you Akane." Shampoo stated. "I shall try to keep my spirits up." Just then, Mousse was sent into the sprinklers. At the director's call, Mumu-chan was set down in his place and Mousse came off the set just as soaked as Ryouga before him. Shampoo smiled one last time to Akane and followed where Mousse had gone.

Akane watched as Ranma left the set and went to his trailer. All of his scenes for that episode had been shot already, thanks to Ryouga's disappearance. So, the director had told him to take a break and that he'd be called if needed. Ranma headed back to his trailer, carefully avoiding looking at Akane as he passed by her.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ukyo was in make-up, preparing for her next scene. Doing the exact same in the chair next to her was Nabiki. Ukyo stole several glances at 'Nab-chan', none of them going unnoticed. Finally, the make-up girl working on them left them to go to the backroom for a lipstick brush she had neglected to bring out. Ukyo was about to use this chance of them being alone to break the ice, but the visibly uncomfortable Nabiki beat her to it. "Ukyo, why do you keep staring at me? I mean, it was nice of you to make me lunch, but it seems everywhere I turn, you're there as well." Nabiki started. Ukyo, who was growing both nervous and dejected was about to interrupt when Nabiki continued.

"I'm sorry to say this, but I can't help feeling uncomfortable at all this....." she trailed off when a word accurately describing Ukyo's advances failed to come to her.

Ukyo sighed. She knew Nabiki wasn't on the same page as her, let alone the same team. But she also knew that Nabiki had never publicly made known a relationship, nor spoken of interest in any type in particular. Ukyo let herself press ahead with one last attempt to sway her. If Nabiki rejected her openly, she'd abandon it then.

"Listen Nab-chan, I'm sorry 'bout following you around like that. I was only trying to be nice. To let you know I'm here for ya. But, if you want me to go away that badly, I will."

Nabiki had felt uneasy at the 'Nab-chan' reference, but now her uneasiness was caused by a different source. The notion that her words had hurt someone's feelings. Ukyo took Nabiki's momentary silence as cause to continue.

"Tell you what. Let me make it up to you. I've got these two folks I met here at the studio a while ago. They're both very nice. One's a lovely young artist and the other's a smart lookin' race car driver, real cute. What say we all go out for coffee?"

Nabiki pondered over the request. She appreciated Ukyo's offer. Especially since there'd be other people around. With any luck, Ukyo would be too preoccupied with the lovely artist to make any advances like before. *Race cars, huh..* Nabiki nodded politely and Ukyo smiled, using all of her strength to keep from throwing her arms around Nabiki. *Down girl..* she thought. *I hope Nab-chan enjoys herself.*

* * *

While the director started a scene at the Ucchan's between Ukyo, Nabiki and Kuno, Akane stood motionless next to the wardrobe area. She looked on at two trailers in front of her, one a little to her left, the other, just off to the right. Akane had never realized this before, for she usually had visitors come to her, but Ranma and Ryouga's respective trailers were practically next to each other. Now, there she stood, like a lost pedestrian at a fork in the road. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and stepped forward. Her feet carried her to Ryouga's trailer, but some part of her kept trying to steer them the other way.

Akane knocked on the door and smiled meekly as Ryouga opened it and welcomed her in. "I was starting to think you weren't coming." he said as his arms wrapped around and pulled her to him. Before Akane could answer, Ryouga was kissing her full on the lips. As his lips found their way down her face to her neck, Akane was free to speak again, albeit a bit flustered.

"I.. I had to take care of a few things. It's good to have you back, Ryouga-kun." By this time, Ryouga had slipped one of the tiny sleeves of Akane's yellow sun-dress costume aside and was saying a long overdue hello to her shoulder. His lips parted company from her skin long enough to respond. "Why so formal all of the sudden? I much prefer it when you call me 'Ryo-chan'." He lowered his voice to a husky whisper and along with it, lowered his hand to her breast. "..Especially when you're screaming it." he kissed her shoulder again and looked up at her, a sneaky grin baring his fangs. Running his hand along her clothed breast, he led her to the bed. "Matter of fact, what say we find out if I can hear that scream again. It's incredibly sexy."

Akane commanded her body to behave as she escaped Ryouga's grip and sat upright on his bed, positioning him next to her to do the same. Ryouga took on a confused expression, having expected Akane to reciprocate rather than pause what he was doing. Akane looked into his eyes. What she was about to say could very well reveal Ryouga's true intentions toward her. *It's now or never.* she thought as she opened her mouth to speak. "Ryouga, where do you see us a year or two from now?"

Ryouga blinked. He was caught off guard by the question, but more to the point, he wasn't sure what Akane meant by asking. Shrugging playfully, he smiled at her.

"That's easy, gorgeous. This series is good for three more seasons according to our contracts. I see us here, making my trailer shake." He winked at her as he finished off. Akane sighed, deciding to try again with different phrasing. "What I meant was, do you see us getting serious, being in love, spending more time together?" Akane held her breath. This time he had to give her a straight answer. An answer she'd wanted for a long time.

"Well sure, sexy." Ryouga chuckled. "We get serious all the time. Oh boy, do we get serious. We make love, Sweetlips. With your sexy body, how could I not?" Ryouga eased Akane onto the bed as his hands explored her every inch, ready to pick up where they left off as he continued his reply. "..And hey, as for spending more time together. If you wanted to sample more of the famous Ryouga stamina, all you had to do was ask."

Ryouga was about to kiss her, when Akane sighed and sat up again, pushing him aside as gently as possible. A second time, Ryouga blinked, completely baffled by Akane's behaviour. Akane leaned in and kissed Ryouga softly on the lips, then stood up.

"I need to get going. See you later Ryouga. I'm glad you found your way back to us." With that, Akane exited the trailer, leaving Ryouga, sitting dumbfounded on his bed, wondering what went wrong.

* * *

Akane looked across at Ranma's trailer and walked over. She tapped on the door and was soon greeted by the sight of a surprised and embarrassed Ranma. *Oh man, she's here ta confront me 'bout that kiss. I'm dead!* Ranma thought as he simply moved aside to let her in. Akane stepped inside and sat down on Ranma's bed. Ranma, seeing this, was embarrassed as hell at the thoughts it provoked, but shooed them away quickly and squatted on the floor in front of her. He swallowed quite audibly and decided an apology was the best route.

"Err, Akane..... about before.." he started. Ranma was in the middle of finding the right words to continue when Akane cut him off, but good!

"Yes."

Ranma stared. He had no idea why Akane had said this. Was it forgiveness to the apology? No, he hadn't gotten it out yet. Was it that she actually 'liked' the kiss? That last consideration made Ranma blush. Akane noticed this and figured Ranma knew to what she was referring.

"I never did answer you about that invitation to dinner. It was rude of me not to. When did you have in mind?"

Ranma was awestruck. He never dreamed she would accept his invitation. Especially after what had happened. Forcing himself out of shock, he smiled. Akane couldn't help but notice Ranma's smile was cute. She waited for him to answer.

"Um, is tonight okay?" He said nervously. Akane smiled and nodded to him "Tonight is fine. I'll meet you at my trailer after work. See you then, Ranma." Akane stood up and bowed to him. Ranma just stood before her, staring. As Akane left, she smiled back at him. Only after the door closed did Ranma fall back on his bed in complete bliss.

* * *

"FOOLISH BOY!!!!" Genma's cry seemed to ring through the entire stage as he and Ranko proceeded to shoot one of their famous 'sparring matches turned ugly' scenes. Most of the cast was on break now. Those who weren't in wardrobe or make-up were off memorizing lines. Tatewaki sat outside Kodachi's trailer, cooing apologies through the window. She had barely spoken to him since the coffee prank.

"I'm begging you Koda-chan, let me in! You can't still be mad after all this time." he whined.

"You can stay out there until you prove to me that you're above such foolishness!" answered the stern voice from inside.

Just then a large splash was heard from on set as the director stopped the scene in progress. A crewman called out. "Can we get the panda in here!" Mr. Panda slowly emerged with his trainer toward the set. At the same time, Kasumi was storming out of make-up louder than ever. "Can't you people do anything right!? This junk is caked onto my skin so thick, I look like pancake batter!!!! My delicate skin can't take this amateur make-up job!! OH!" Kasumi's rant was cut short just then. Due to her fussing, she neglected to watch where she was going and thus walked straight in the path of Mr. Panda. The innocent animal looked down at her, barely phased as Kasumi let out a slowly, growing growl.

"Grrrrrrrrrr that's IT! I don't get any respect around such incompetents! Somebody get this walking carpet out of my way, NOW!!"

The trainer quickly led the animal to the set where it was needed as the fuming actress got set to yell for a third round. Just as she opened her mouth, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Swerving around to see who dared to interrupt her she met eyes with a grinning Doctor Tofu.

"What do you want?!" she roared. Doctor Tofu wrapped his arms around a startled Kasumi and dipped her in a deep kiss. Casually, he returned her to an upright position and let go of her with a sly grin. "Calm down gorgeous. Everything's under control. Now show the nice folks your beautiful smile."

"Oh my.." was all Kasumi could think of to say as she walked back to her trailer, calmly smiling a sweet smile. Tatewaki was among the many who had witnessed this and broke down laughing at the sight of it. "Guess she doesn't need my help afterall!" he blurted out between giggles. Kodachi who had emerged from her trailer at the commotion wasn't laughing. She glared down at her husband just as his giggles died down. He looked up at her just in time to catch her reply. "You're off to a lousy start." With that, Kodachi went back into her trailer and closed the door.


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Ranma 1/2. Nor do I own any other recognized series/characters that may appear in this story. Characters and series elements are copyright of their respective owners.

* * *

**A/N:** This chapter I decided to concentrate on setting up the story between Shampoo and Mousse. And of course, the continuing build of tension between Ranma and Ryouga. Enjoy!

* * *

Shampoo had been careful all afternoon. She wanted a chance to talk to Mousse again, but dreaded another argument rearing its' ugly head. Sadly, she held back and neglected to break the ice. Turning around, she ceased following him and went to her trailer. Shampoo had not gone unnoticed. Mousse was aware of her hesitant shadowing of him ever since the end of the fight scene. Hearing her footsteps grow softer, he turned to see Shampoo as she left. Quietly, he followed her to her trailer. At the very least, he wanted to apologize for making her cry earlier. He felt he owed her that much. Shampoo placed her hand on the trailer doorknob, but she heard a voice behind her that made her stop cold. "Shampoo....."

Meanwhile, Ranma had snapped out of his blissful state and was walking around the set. His thoughts were filled with nothing but Akane. Still, he managed to keep his beaming smile down to a natural looking grin, so as not to arouse suspicion. Suddenly he spotted Ryouga. Ranma's fist clenched on reflex at the sight of his now real-life rival, but he calmed himself down again. Ranma was just about to pass by him when Ryouga looked up and called to him. "Hey Ranma.." he said casually, most of his attention on the script in front of him. Ranma bottled up his feelings and put on a casual front as he approached Ryouga.

"Hey man, whatcha doin'?" he asked.

Ryouga gave him a look, script displayed in hand. "I think that should be obvious" he retorted. "I'm practicing my lines for tomorrow." Ranma nodded. Ryouga sighed as he skimmed over his script."I wish they would give me normal lines. I'm not good at this poetry stuff."

Ranma scoffed, putting together which scene Ryouga must be referring to. He was going over one of the scenes where he was to get lost and be thinking of Akane. The writers always gave Ryouga poetic monologues for those scenes. "Gimme a break Ryouga. Yer lines ain't that hard. You got it easy compared ta some." Ryouga scowled, taking this as mocking of his frustration. Shoving the script at Ranma, he shot back at him.

"Oh yeah? I'd like to see you do any better."

Ranma smirked, eager to snatch up the chance he'd been given to show up his co-star. He took the the script and mock-cleared his throat, ready to ham things up with his best Ryouga impersonation. Striking a lovestruck and lost pose, he read the script aloud.

"Oh my dear sweet Akane. Will I ever make it back to your arms? Even as I stand here, miles away from your sweet touch, I can feel the gaze of your beautiful eyes calling back to me...." Ryouga frowned as it became quite obvious Ranma was making fun of him. He was about to snatch the script away from him when he noticed something. Ranma continued as Ryouga stared at him.

"Akane, my love, you are the reason I return. It is your embrace that calls my heart, it is your smile that I see in my dreams, even as we sleep under the same sky. It is your sweet voice that I hear within the depths of my soul, like a song taking my every breath away." Ryouga's eyes stayed firm on Ranma as he grew slowly uncomfortable at every word. As Ranma read the lines, his Ryouga impression had slowly faded away. Now he sounded earnest and truthful, not the joking tone he had begun with.

Ranma sighed, then quickly snapped out of it. He had gotten far too into the words he was reading. He casually tossed the script back to Ryouga and forced out a laugh.

"Heh, there. Now what was so hard about that? Child's play." Ranma stood up and walked away before Ryouga could respond. Ryouga took on a brief look of worry but dismissed it. He was overreacting. That had to be it. Ranma meanwhile smiled as the words in the script played over in his mind. *Too bad I never get to say that to her.* he thought. *Oh well, at least he doesn't get to either.*

Ranma was so lost in his own thoughts that he bumped into Shampoo as she turned a corner. "Oof!" he let out with a start. "Oh, hey, sorry 'bout that Shampoo. I didn't see ya." Shampoo smoothed out her clothes and smiled back at him.

"It's alright Ranma. I don't think either of us was watching where they were going. No harm done." Ranma blinked. He had heard news of his best friend being upset earlier. Now she was smiling ear to ear. "Not that I'm complainin' here, but I heard ya were upset. Now yer smilin' like ya got yer salary doubled. What's up?"

Shampoo smiled at her best friend, grateful for his concern. She then thought back to her last visit to her trailer, every detail coming back clear as a bell.

Shampoo turned at the voice that called to her. It was Mousse. She stood there motionless, unable to speak. Mousse was the last person she had expected to see following her. "Can I have a word?" he asked politely. A simple nod was all Shampoo could manage in reply. Mousse stepped up to her and briefly looked at the floor, remembering her tears. He then looked in her eyes and spoke.

"I'm very sorry for making you cry, Shampoo. I was wrong to yell at you. Can you forgive me?" Mousse looked at her almost nervously, the silence getting to him. Shampoo, for her part was halfway between shock and happiness. She smiled softly and broke the silence with a single word. "Yes." Mousse let out a sigh. He'd been holding his breath, although he wasn't sure why. And now that she had answered him, it was safe to let it out again.

"I'm glad." he said simply, trying not to make too much of things. He had apologized and made things right. That was the important thing.

Shampoo forced her emotions to stay in check as she gazed at the floor.

"I'm sorry Ranma forced you on that date with me.." she said softly. Mousse blinked in surprise. He never expected this. As he looked at Shampoo, he saw her eyes take on a look of sadness again. That was the last thing he wanted. Besides, the date was admittedly, very enjoyable. He rested his hand on Shampoo's shoulder and waited for her gaze to meet his. As she looked up at him, he smiled reassuringly at her.

"It wasn't that bad." he said as he leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. He then turned to go, leaving Shampoo standing there in shock. As he walked away, Mousse thought to himself *Why did I do that..?*

Ranma waved his hand in front of Shampoo's face. "Yo, Earth to Shampoo? You in there?" he said to the silent girl before him. Shampoo came out of her happy daze and playfully pushed him. "I'm here you silly! I'm feeling a lot better now. Sorry you had to hear about before." Shampoo thought it better not to mention the kiss. Ranma had a knack for blowing things out of proportion. Besides, she herself wasn't sure if it meant anything. "Glad ta hear it." Ranma replied. "Well, I gotta get goin'. I need ta get ready ta go home." Ranma hid his smile so Shampoo wouldn't pick up on it. His every thought was on the anticipated second date with Akane, but he didn't want his best friend teasing him over it. The two nodded to each other and went their separate ways, both thinking about a great deal.

Ryouga stood pacing outside his trailer. He had finished memorizing his scenes for the following shoot and was pretty much done for the day. The only problem was he couldn't leave yet. He relied on his co-workers to get him safely home each day. This arrangement had been established long ago and the cast and crew were used to taking on the task in shifts. Ryouga looked back at his trailer absently, recalling what had transpired with Akane. He had an hour to kill, but he wasn't sure that seeing her now wouldn't be viewed as pushing his luck. He never did understand female mood swings and preferred to let them blow over first. Then he glanced back at his script and remembered his earlier encounter with Ranma. He was certain that something was going through his co-star's mind to make him read those lines with such intensity. And Ryouga was determined to find out what it was. He promptly walked over to Ranma's trailer and tiptoed up to the window.

"Spying, Ryouga? I thought you had more class than that."

"Eaaahhhh!" Ryouga jumped back with a start and swerved around to see Nabiki giving him a disapproving look. "I wasn't spying." he muttered defensively. Knowing full well that Nabiki wasn't stupid, he offered an explanation. "Ranma's been acting weird lately and I wanted to get to the bottom of things, that's all. Nabiki, have you any idea what's up with him?"

Nabiki rolled her eyes "What do I look like, the information desk? I don't have all the answers you know." she stood there with her hands on her hips as Ryouga's questioning glance slowly turned into a frown. "And just so you know. For not spying, you sure do lurk around windows well. Why don't you try asking around instead of attaching yourself to Ranma's trailer."

Ryouga growled and stormed off in search of answers, leaving Nabiki standing alone and letting out a small sigh "I shouldn't have been so hard on him. If Ukyo hadn't aggravated me all day, I'd be in my usual friendly mood. I'll have to apologize tomorow." she thought aloud.

As Ryouga searched the set, the tone of Ranma's voice played in his mind endlessly, torturing him like some small insecurity he wasn't aware was there. *I must have been imagining things. I had to be.* he thought as he searched for a second opinion. Suddenly he spotted Shampoo. Apparently his silent ranting had lead him to her trailer. *Shampoo's Ranma's best friend. If anyone knows what he's hiding, it'll be her.* he thought as he approached her.

Shampoo smiled politely as she saw Ryouga walk up to her. He didn't talk to her off-set very often, let alone visit her trailer. But she had had far too good an afternoon to care. "Hello Ryouga. I'm afraid I'm not the one to lead you home tonight. But if you came about something else, I'm all ears."

Ryouga grinned, satisfied that he'd finally get some answers and sat down on a crate nearby. "I came to ask you about Ranma, actually." he explained in a matter of fact tone. "He's been acting weird and I wanted to know what was wrong." Shampoo felt a momentary concern for her friend at Ryouga's words and urged him to elaborate. "Weird in what way?" she asked.

"Well, he's been smiling like a dork all day and he was reading my lines with a funny tone.." Ryouga cringed as the memory came fresh in his mind. Not that it ever let him a moment's peace to begin with. Casually, he turned Shampoo's script to the page he was referring to and continued. Shampoo read the lines and quickly got the idea, but forced back a smile as she listened to the rest of Ryouga's sentence. "And now that I think about it, he was way outta line with our fight scene! That really ticks me off. And to top it off, Akane barely let me kis-" Ryouga clapped his mouth shut at the realization that he had gone beyond expressing his frustration concerning Ranma and onto his day in general. He hoped Shampoo missed that last part or Akane would have his hide.

Shampoo meanwhile had heard every word and was rapidly putting the pieces together. Ranma had confided in her long ago about his feelings to Akane, she had witnessed many a time where he looked dejected coming from the direction of her trailer, and when she wasn't focused on Mousse that afternoon, she had picked up on Ranma's unusual enthusiasm during the fight scene. It was obvious to her that Ryouga had claim on Akane, or did he? Ranma had obviously expressed some feeling and had gotten a positive response. She then recalled her talk with Akane earlier. Akane had stared at Ranma through the whole second half of it. *Poor girl must feel confused as hell.* she thought. Smiling inwardly, she pretended not to hear Ryouga's slip of the tongue.

"Well Ryouga, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but although I have noticed a change in Ranma's behaviour, I am his best friend after all." Ryouga looked at her, puzzled. "How does your being his best friend qualify as bad news? If anyone can tell me what's wrong with him, you can".

"That's precisely it. I 'am' his best friend and as such, I can not and will not tell you anything for fear of breaking his confidence and trust." Shampoo smiled sweetly to an already agitated Ryouga and this act aggravated him more. He wanted answers and not only was he getting squat, but Shampoo had all but told him off. Ryouga began to feel the steam rise within him as he searched for the right words to express his displeasure.

Mousse, meanwhile had been lost in thought all afternoon. He simply could not find a reason for the kiss he had bestowed upon Shampoo. Sure, it was innocent enough, but it was not like him to make such a bold move. Upon reaching the end of the last of his scenes, Mousse had also reached a decision. He would ask Shampoo on a second date. He had enjoyed the first one well enough, as did she. It was only an outing shared by two friends, right? He would take her out again and if he could not figure out the reasoning behind his previous bold action toward her, he would shrug it off and continue on as always. This solution seeming satisfactory, he had retired to his trailer and prepared. Once dressed in suitable wear, he emerged from his trailer and made his way to Shampoo's. He was growing steadily nervous as he neared his destination. He turned the corner just in time to see Ryouga angrily step toward her in a verbal attack.

"Listen up Shampoo! I've had one lousy day and I came to you for answers! I've been wandering around this damned studio trying to get back here to do what they pay me for and I come back only to find Ranma out of sorts and other people avoiding me?!" Ryouga had just enough control left to hold back mentioning Akane by name, but he was far from through with yelling out his aggression at Shampoo. "You may be Ranma's best friend, but dammit, drop the nice act and cough up the information I came here for!"

Mousse felt an unexplained anger building up inside of him. Sure, he resented seeing such disregard for a co-worker, not to mention unprofessional and uncalled for behaviour, but there was something else there too. Something he could not put his finger on. But right now, he needed to put a stop to this shameless display on Ryouga's part. "Hey! What sort of man goes around exposing a lady to such hostile treatment? I strongly suggest you back off, Hibiki!" Mousse had interjected just as Ryouga was about to start ranting at Shampoo again and his voice was welcomed with two stares, one of shock and one of annoyance.

"What are you her boyfriend now, Mousse? Stay out of my business. She owes me some information." Ryouga growled, still annoyed at the lack of response from Shampoo. Mousse seethed at Ryouga's attitude and put on a calm but stern face as he placed himself between him and Shampoo. "I believe it is you who owe in this case. You owe her an apology. I trust you'll deliver it tomorrow when you've cooled your hot head. Now I suggest you be on your way. Sasuke is waiting to take you home." Ryouga growled again and was about to engage in a stare-down with Mousse, but decided his time would be put to better use getting answers from another source. Angrily, he stomped off to find Sasuke.

Shampoo, who had blushed at the 'boyfriend' remark remained silent throughout as she watched the two argue, wondering why Mousse had come to her aid. Was it possible he liked her? As she watched Ryouga storm off she turned to Mousse and smiled. "Oh thank you Mousse. Ryouga was really mad. Thank you so much for stopping him!" She was so caught up in the moment that she advanced toward Mousse to embrace him. Catching herself, she stopped and blushed, cursing herself for almost making a terrible mistake. *I can't believe I almost did that.. I could have scared him off for good!* she thought. Mousse had caught her near reaction and blushed, finding himself almost disappointed that she'd stopped from completing it. Nervously he watched her smile softly at him and coughed suddenly, trying to regain his composure.

"I came by to ask if you are free this evening." he said quite calmly, his nervousness hidden behind stoic features. Shampoo beamed. Maybe it wasn't a date, but it was at least a chance to get to know the man she had admired for so long. Mousse stood there calm in appearance. But inside, the silence was killing him, though he was most uncertain of the reason. Finally Shampoo broke out of her blissful state and nodded quietly. "Yes Mousse. I'm free tonight." she said with a smile. Mousse nodded in turn. "Then would you care to join me for dinner?"

Another nod was all he would receive. Smiling, Shampoo took Mousses hand and picked up her things. Surprisingly, Mousse found he did not mind the action and he lead her to his car, unconsciously squeezing her hand along the way.


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Ranma 1/2. Nor do I own any other recognized series/characters that may appear in this story. Characters and series elements are copyright of their respective owners.

* * *

**A/N: **The crossover element of the fic pics up yet again in this chapter. You may have noticed I've been using Ryouga as a vehicle for bringing in crossover characters. He's just so convenient for that ;) That will continue but now in addition, other characters will start to find themselves in crossover situations. Enjoy!

* * *

Ranma was dressed up neatly and standing outside Akane's trailer working up the nerve to knock on the door when it opened suddenly. There, face to face with Ranma, stood Akane, dressed in her finest. Her dress was casual enough to pass for street clothes, but still looked radiant on her. Ranma commanded his jaw to remain in place and not drop to the floor. Both blinked in surprised at the sudden appearance of the other. His hands nervously shifting in his pockets as one clenched a certain jewelry box, Ranma finally spoke.

"You look beautiful Akane." he said with a genuine smile that Akane could definitely appreciate. She wasn't sure, but she could swear she saw a pink hue cover his cheeks.

"Thank you Ranma. You look very nice as well." she answered with a sweet smile that made his heart melt. Ranma took her hand and turned slightly leading her down the trailer stairs. "We should g't goin'." he stated politely. It was now Akane's turn to blush. The hand Ranma had taken was the same on which he had bestowed the accidental kiss earlier. The memory came back to Akane the instant he touched her hand and she felt her heart flutter. A nod was all she could manage in response. Shaking off the lightheadedness, she followed Ranma once again to his car.

Ryouga had wandered around the entire studio looking for Sasuke, but being Ryouga, had only managed to get himself going round in circles. Sasuke had long given up and left, figuring Ryouga would sleep in his trailer for the night. Suddenly Ryouga found himself witnessing something that nearly made him do a backward facefault. In front of his own eyes was Ranma Saotome, leading 'his' Akane by the hand from her trailer. *He better not be trying anything.* Ryouga thought as he frowned at the sight. He then unknowingly spoke aloud to assure himself. "Feh, Ranma's a jerk around females. He wouldn't know what to do with a second rate one, let alone a gem like my Akane. She's a good listener though. Maybe he'll tell her what the heck's going on with him. I'll get the answers out of my lovely in the morning. She'd tell me anything I asked." Ryouga determinedly followed the two at a safe distance out of the studio and through the lot. *Just to make sure Saotome stays in his place.* he told himself. Sadly, he took a wrong turn just before the parking lot came into view and it took him another hour to locate the entrance. By then Ranma and Akane had long gone.

---

Nabiki meanwhile was impatiently waiting outside the studio. Ukyo had instructed her to wait there while she retrieved the two friends she had spoken of. Nabiki was happy to oblige, since nothing would give her more satisfaction than seeing Ukyo return on the arm of the beautiful young artist she had spoken of earlier. Nabiki glanced at her watch one final time and frowned. *If she doesn't come back in 5 minutes, I'm heading-* her thought was cut off by the sight of three figures heading toward her. She recognized Ukyo almost immediately and assumed the other two to be their dates. Ukyo walked up to her object of interest and smiled, taking her hand. "Nab-chan, sorry we're late.." Nabiki cringed, both at the hand holding and the use of the pet name. *Easy Nabiki..* she told herself *It's just until she introduces you.*

"I'd like ya to meet Haruka Tennou and Michiru Kaiou."

Nabiki smiled politely and eyed the one called Haruka giving him the once over. *This must be the race car driver.* she thought pleasantly. Then, she noticed two things. Haruka's smile had turned from her and was now directed toward Michiru, and unless she was mistaken, they were holding hands. That meant... *Noooooooo!* Nabiki inwardly screamed. This left Ukyo as her date. She sighed, realizing how rude she would appear if she attempted to get out of the evening at this stage. Shrugging to herself, she took comfort in the thought that even though he appeared taken, perhaps she could get through the evening by flirting with Haruka anyway. This would at the very least discourage Ukyo and set her 'straight' about Nabiki's preference in dates.

"Well, let's get going! It's time for a good old fashioned girls' night out!" Ukyo stated cheerfully, taking Nabiki's arm. Nabiki blinked at the statement and then spotted Haruka taking off his sports jacket to reveal a quite obviously feminine figure. *He's a SHE?!! I'm doomed......* The two pairs headed off arm in arm, much to Nabiki's chagrin.

---

Mousse parked his car just outside the Red Dragon, the classiest restaurant he could think of on short notice. As he reached to take Shampoo's hands he felt a tinge of nervousness creep up on him again. *Just antsy about making sure the evening goes well. It's only right to make up for things afterall.* he told himself. Shampoo, who hadn't stopped beaming since they left the studio felt the electric touch greet her all too suddenly as she was led into the restaurant. Only upon seeing exactly where they were dining did she come out of her trance-like state. *Oooooh, but I hate chinese food!* she silently whined. Reminding herself just who she was with, Shampoo promptly shut up and followed him inside.

---

Ranma's car pulled into his driveway slowly, though it had seemed like an eternity for him. The drive from work had gone slowly, both he and Akane silent as stars floating in separate galaxies. "We're here." he said softly, releif in his voice. He needn't have really stated such, Akane having been to his home just the previous night. Akane delicately exited the car and followed Ranma up the steps to his door.

Ranma, to his credit was successfully maintaining a neutral outward appearance while allowing tons of tiny thoughts and reminders to flow through his mind. The fan from the night before exclaiming that he was 'taken', his accidental kiss to Akane's hand, the reverie he had gotten lost in while mocking Ryouga's script, and Akane's sudden acceptance of his second invitation. Silently, they danced around in his mind like puzzle pieces trying to fit together to form a larger picture. Everything he wanted lay in the beautiful girl before him. Happiness, company, love. Unlocking the door, Ranma demanded that his mind shoo such thoughts away for now and concentrate on the night ahead of him. The last thing he needed was to get high expectations going when he hadn't even gotten through their second date. He opened the door for Akane and stepped aside to allow her entry.

Akane smiled at the gesture and stepped inside the house only to stop in surprise just inside the door. Greeting her almost immediately with a friendly brush of the leg was Scarlet, purring softly as she nuzzled her head against Akane's ankle.

"Heh, looks like someone's happy ta see ya back here." said Ranma with a grin. *..Besides me that is.* he thought as he made his way to the kitchen. Scarlet left Akane in favor of making sure Ranma's visit to the kitchen was with the purpose of feeding her as she padded over to him with a demanding meow.

"I hope ya like french cookin'!" Ranma called to Akane, who had just sat on the couch. Smiling, Akane hoped she wasn't causing Ranma to go to too much trouble. "That sounds wonderful." she replied politely. Ranma's heart skipped a beat. Her praise always made his day. And this time he hadn't even done anything yet. He made a silent vow that nothing would ruin this dinner.

---

Nabiki fidgeted in her seat. Half empty cups of coffee decorated the small table of four. All except hers. She had barely taken a sip, choosing instead to clutch it as she nodded politely at the conversation around her. Haruka and Michiru had inched their chairs closer to each other as the evening wore on. This left a huge void consisting of Nabiki and Ukyo's respective chairs. Ukyo had once tried to move her chair closer to 'Nab-chans', but noticed Nabiki freeze up at this, so remained as she was.

"So how long have you two known each other?" Nabiki looked on as the inquiry came from Michiru. She was stroking Haruka's hand contently and the look in her eyes as she spoke indicated that she was under the impression that Ukyo and Nabiki were a couple. This made Nabiki turn more than a little green. "We've known eachother for.." Nabiki cut Ukyo off, but fast! She was afraid that any answer given would further support the 'couple' theory and she couldn't have that. It would only encourage Ukyo and her advances were bad enough already. "We were hired for the same series. We're co-workers!" Nabiki shot the sentence out with a determination that left Ukyo a bit crestfallen. What Nabiki said was true, but she couldn't help but feel rejected. Nabiki caught Ukyo's visage and hoped that the others hadn't noticed. She felt bad, but she had to set the situation straight. She had nothing against same sex relations, but she herself was straight and Ukyo needed to understand that. "Working together huh? Must get akward sometimes." Haruka stated. They weren't getting it. *Help......* Nabiki thought as she sank further in her seat.

---

Ryouga had long give up tracking down Ranma and Akane. He had wandered the lot for what seemed like forever and decided to put his faith in Akane's ability to take care of herself. He made a note to introduce Ranma to his fist should Akane show up at work with even a hint of unhappiness. "That jerk may be hopeless around women, but he better not try anything with MY woman." Mumbling to himself, Ryouga pushed open a door marked Stage #9. As he looked around, his visage fell, frustration taking over his features. "This isn't it either... What I wouldn't give to at least locate my trailer. I'll get the boot if I keep holding up production. Ryouga was so busy worrying to himself that he failed to notice some wires on the stage floor. Without warning, he tripped over three large ones and went flying into a pile of props. Groggy, he tried to stand, but he felt himself lose footing and fall into something large. Then before you could say "Where on Earth am I now?", he had been hit on the head. Confused and dazed, Ryouga lost conciousness.

---

Shampoo smiled across the table at the man she admired. She was doing a very good job of hiding her excitement, given that the thought of being on a real date with Mousse still left her in a state of what seemed like pure heaven. Mousse caught her smile and smiled back nervously. He was new to the dating experience and although he had initiated this date, he had no idea what he was doing. *Any other night I'd be rehearsing next week's script with a bowl of Ramen in front of me. How does one act on these things?* He motioned over to the waiter who had taken their order. He needed to distract himself while they waited for the food. "Two waters please." The waiter nodded and went to the kitchen.

"I very much enjoyed your fight scene today Mousse." Mousse snapped out of his thought process and looked up at Shampoo. "Thank you. Ranma was in rare form today wasn't he." Mousse wasn't used to compliments, so shifting the focus on Shampoo's best friend seemed appropriate. "So were you." She smiled another radiant smile as the conversation shifted right back to Mousse. He smiled and nodded a simple thank you as he tried desperately to hide the blush threatening to show on his cheeks. This dating thing was going to be harder than he thought..

---

Ranma and Akane sat eating their dinner by candlelight. The silence as they concentrated on the meal was both relieving and unnerving to Ranma. On the one hand he was relieved to have some time to think over possible subject matter while he ate. But by the same token, he was greatly worried that his nervousness would leave him unable to carry on a decent conversation with Akane. What would they talk about? He had no desire to just talk about work. Sure, their work environment was where they shared the most common ground, but Ranma wanted to get to know Akane. He wished to learn every aspect of her and share aspects of himself as well. Microscopic beads of sweat collected on the back on Ranma's neck as he searched for a starting point. To his great relief, Akane finished the morsel of food she'd been working on and spoke.

"So are you ready for tomorrow's shoot? We start a new episode schedule you know." she said with a smile. Ranma's visage fell just slightly. *Damn.. More talk about work. Ah well, better'n not talkin' at all I guess..* Ranma shot her back a shyer version of his cocky grin and replied.

"Yeah. I gave the script the once, twice and thrice over last night. All set." Taking in a gulp, Ranma decided now was it. He was going to shift the conversation. Crossing his fingers under the tablecloth, he proceeded. "So whaddaya do with yer days, Akane? I mean free time an' all."

Akane was caught off guard by the sudden change in topic, and for her part, wondered why Ranma was suddenly interested in knowing the answer. Then she made a note of where she was. She and Ranma weren't at work. Why should they restrict their conversation to it? Smiling and a bit flattered by Ranma's initiative, she answered him. "Oh, all kinds of things, really. I like to cook. I keep a garden. And of course I need to keep up my skills for the show, so I do head to the gym. But I prefer my evening jog." Ranma nodded as each beautiful word hit his ears. A smile crossing his lips as he got his first glimpse into the life of the girl before him. "What about you?"

*Huh?!* Ranma snapped out of his reverie and blushed slightly as he realized it was his turn to return the favor.

"Nuthin special. I go to the gym too. Three times a week. Plus all kindsa other athletic stuff. I write a bit in my spare time, spend time with the furball here an' I enjoy watchin' a good sumo match. Heh." Ranma dropped his hand down to scratch Scarlet lightly on the head, his voice hiding nervousness as he spoke.

"You're a writer?" Akane's eyes lit up with interest as she learned of a side of her co-star she would have never expected. The athletic aspect was no surprise, but the thought of Ranma Saotome engaging in writing seemed foreign to her and it intrigued her to no end.

"Well, yeah. I've been writin' far before I ever caught the acting bug. Nuthin' published 'course, but...." Ranma stopped as his eyes caught sight of Akane's. He was astonished at how well he seemed to have captured her attention. *YEESSS!!!* went off the voice in his mind. "Err, you wouldn't wanna,... y'know see some of what I wrote sometime? It's okay if ya don't."

Akane smiled. "I'd love to. What kinds of things do you write?" Ranma beamed at the first three words, then soon realized a lot of his writing lately had been about his feelings for Akane. Nothing directly mentioned her by name but the risk was still there if she should read any of it. Quickly, he thought of some of his older material and stood up. "Short stories mostly. Wait here, I'll go grab ya one." Ranma had carefully summarized his writing, leaving out words like 'romance tale' or 'love poem' when answering Akane. As Ranma stepped out of the dining room, Akane noticed a small jewelry box had dropped from his back pants pocket.

---

Ukyo let out a small sigh as she smiled to Haruka and Michiru across the table, her smile hiding the concern in her mind. For most of an hour, she had witnessed Nabiki turn from frozen up, to very uncomfortable, to downright scared and defensive at the constant gentle verbal nudges regarding her and Ukyo. *What am I doing.. It's hopeless. Nab-chan isn't interested in me that way...* Glancing over to the fidgeting Nabiki once more, she bit her lip in defeat and decided it only fair to get the poor girl out of there. "We're just friends. I didn't want to be a third wheel so I asked Nabiki to join me when meeting up with you two.." Haruka and Michiru stopped their questions and nodded, finally taking the hint and letting the topic go. Nabiki for her part was doubly stunned. Once for the comment itself and once more for Ukyo's sudden use of her actual name, rather than the 'Nab-chan' nickname she'd ackwardly grown used to hearing from her. Nabiki let go of her long since cold cup of coffee and adjusted her seat, straightening up and giving a nod to the pair across the table. "That's right. I couldn't refuse the request of a friend, so here I am. Though I should be going home soon. I have an early shoot tomorrow." Nabiki stood up and Ukyo followed suit as this seemed to serve as the cue for the 'girl's night' to come to an end. Haruka expressed pleasure at having met Nabiki on behalf of both Michiru and herself while Michiru simply smiled and held Haruka's arm. The couple left with Ukyo and Nabiki following behind until just outside the coffee shop. And then there were two. Nabiki nodded to Ukyo who had an obvious saddened expression on her face, despite her best efforts to hide it. "Thank you, Ukyo. I appreciate what you just did." Nabiki bowed a small thanks to her before rising upright again. *You're welcome Nab-chan* Ukyo thought as she simply nodded back, unable to speak for fear of her voice showing the wrong emotion to Nabiki.

Nabiki wanted to offer words of comfort to her dejected co-worker but was afraid that any such words could be taken as her showing affection. She did not want things to turn down the route they had just managed to finally stray from. Smiling a soft, encouraging smile to Ukyo, she turned to go. "Bye Nabiki.." Ukyo stated softly. As Nabiki faded into nothing more than a small speck, a single tear fell from Ukyo's cheek, a symbol of her admission of defeat. "Ukyo? Ukyo Kuonji? Is that you?" Ukyo turned to the voice behind her and saw a girl with long flowing pink hair stroll up toward her. "Utena? I haven't seen you since before I started my job at the studio. How are you?" Ukyo smiled for the first time in what had been more than an hour. The loss of her conquest pushed to the back of her heart in favor of talking to an old friend. "I moved to this district a week ago. I work at your same studio now! Come on, let's grab a coffee. We have so much catching up to do!"


	8. Chapter 8

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Ranma 1/2. Nor do I own any other recognized series/characters that may appear in this story. Characters and series elements are copyright of their respective owners.

* * *

**A/N: **This is what I affectionately refer to as my mushy chapter. Relationships are further defined and Ranma and Akane have a cute little scene at the end. I must admit however that my favorite scene in the whole chapter is Ryouga's latest crossover encounter. Enjoy!

* * *

"Yo, mornin' everyone!" Ranma casually waved to the crewmen as he entered the studio and headed for his trailer. A smile graced his lips as he reached for the door handle, his spirits still up from the night before. Without hesitation, he tossed his bag inside and turned to head for Wardrobe.

Ranma's muscular form disappeared behind the wardrobe curtain as a blush covered the cheeks of Akane who had just caught sight of him as she entered the studio. She walked slowly around the set, lost in thought. Her blush never faded as moments from the night before flashed through her mind crystal clear. She recalled many wonderful moments, but two stood out among the rest. A soft smile appeared as the first of the two thoughts commanded her attention....

---

Akane hesitantly raised herself from her seat at the table, her eyes fixed on the small jewelry box Ranma had dropped. She silently walked over to it, kneeling down to pick it up. her hands fighting with her mind as she told herself she had no right to open it, her mind eventually giving way as curiosity commanded her hands to allow her eyes a glance inside. Akane's gaze fell upon the small golden necklace inside, a locket at its' chain's center. Her eyes danced along the chain as the light reflected off it, only to widen in near shock as she noticed a small engraving on the locket's heart shaped form. 'Akane'. She slowly closed the box and returned it to its' precise position on the floor, her movements shaky as she returned silently to her seat.

Taking her fork, she lightly stabbed another morsel of food to give herself something to do. Partly because she wanted to seem occupied at the table upon Ranma's return, and partly in attempt to get over the shock she felt as her mind tried in vain to put the pieces of the puzzle before her together, of course too flustered to have any results.

Ranma walked back into the room and noted Akane finishing off her drink. To his horror, he also noticed the box on the floor. However, Akane hadn't seemed to, so he quickly nabbed it and pocketed it once again, the momentary panic subsiding. Akane had deliberately averted her gaze and when she heard Ranma sit back down, she felt it safe to look at him once more, though she was working overtime to keep a blush from showing. Ranma smiled weakly, still embarrassed at what could have happened as he handed Akane three pieces of paper held together by a paperclip. "Hope ya like it." he said earnestly as he felt her take the pages from him. Akane spent several minutes nodding lightly to herself as her eyes traveled down the pages. Ranma felt an agonizing silence while he waited for her to finish. Though she tried to read at an increased pace so as not to keep Ranma waiting to long, she really was enjoying the piece. Her eyes widening once again as she came upon a paragraph halfway through.

'He watched her from afar. That feeling of being between asleep and awake enveloping him as he felt it must be a dream to be in the presence of such beauty. His life scarred by unhappiness, her light giving him a reason to get up in the morning. He wanted to call out to her. Tell her he was there, waiting for her. But it was the same story every time. She was not his.'

Akane handed the papers carefully back to Ranma who for his part refrained from letting his nervous anticipation reach the surface. *Please like it...* he thought as he took hold of the papers. Akane's praise meant the world to him and the knowledge that she even read one of his stories was enough to make his heart soar.

"Ranma, that was really well written. I'd like to read some more sometime." Akane felt her cheeks flush. She knew the story couldn't be about her because of the date at the top. Ranma had barely met her when it was written. But the words she read played over and over in her mind, coupling with the sight of her name on the locket to make her heart skip a beat in wonder.

Akane sighed as she reached her trailer, sitting gracefully on her bed as she came back to herself, taking a chance to take some last minute glances at the script.

---

Ranma exited Wardrobe just in time to spot Shampoo, a huge smile on her face being the first thing he noticed. Smiling he walked up to his best friend. "Heya Shampoo! Why the 'I'm so happy, I could burst' face?" Shampoo playfully rolled her eyes and let the teasing go. She was in way too good a mood. "Very funny, you. Can't a girl be happy coming to work?" Too caught up in her happy thoughts, she gave her best friend a small hug. Ranma smiled and returned the hug, then headed for the set, motioning for Shampoo to follow so they could film their first scene together. As the director called 'ACTION', a figure stood off to the side. Mousse watched thoughtfully, his gaze not straying from Shampoo as he tried to go back to studying his script. Too bad his eyes wouldn't cooperate. He thought back to the previous night as he watched Shampoo and Ranma film their scene.

---

Shampoo smiled as the waiter departed from their table after Mousse paid the bill. Mousse noticed her smile and rose from his seat, gently pulling her seat out for her and taking her coat as she stood, before holding it forward for her to slip into. "Should we adjourn?" he offered as he held his arm out to Shampoo.

"Yes, thank you, Mousse. That was a wonderful dinner." The two exited the restaurant as Shampoo noted the absence of Mousse's car. "Mousse! Your car!" Mousse smiled at the concern, but put up his hand indicating she needn't worry. "I slipped out halfway through dinner and asked the valet to park it a few blocks away. He's a friend of mine. I thought we'd go for a stroll in the park on the way to the car."

Shampoo beamed at Mousse's every word, her self control wavering as she barely held herself back from glomping him. Shampoo's glomps were enthusiastic on and off camera and she didn't want to scare Mousse away. "That would be quite nice." she replied with a smile. The two strolled arm in arm through the moonlit park, Mousse finding himself stealing occasional glances at Shampoo in the moonlight, until finally they reached Mousse's car on the far side.

---

The drive home was a quiet one. Each one lost in their own silent thoughts about what they had learned that night in talking with the other. Shampoo had learned of Mousse's preferred solitary lifestyle, his daily routine and how he liked things just so. She'd also managed to get him to open up about such things as his love of martial arts and zen, his passion for hai-kus and his goals as an actor after their contracts were up. She had been surprised at how much he opened up to her, but was definitely pleased. Had Mousse known what Shampoo's thoughts were on the drive home, he would have seen the pleasure in the smile on her face.

Mousse for his part had unintentionally uncovered some of Shampoo's insecurities. She had told him of things that no one knew, save for perhaps Ranma. Stories she had divulged of her past had revealed a lack of faith in herself and her ability to attract someone, and he had learned of her secret fear of aggression toward her as well. These things puzzled him, not expecting a woman as seemingly strong as Shampoo to possess them. Then he thought back to Ryouga's verbal attacks toward her and frowned. Mousse was however, satisfied with his efforts to 'make it up to Shampoo' for his early unkindness toward her. All in all, the date had gone well. A soft smile on his lips proved his opinion on that. Mousse pulled up in front of Shampoo's house and walked around the car to let her out. "I trust you enjoyed the evening." He felt a tinge of nervousness while waiting for her to reply, though he couldn't pin his finger on the reason why.

"I did. Thank you Mousse. Dinner was wonderful and the park was lovely. I had a very nice evening with you." Mousse felt his cheeks grow a little warm as he escorted Shampoo up the steps to her door. Without a second thought, he leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. Stepping back and bowing a goodnight, he got in his car and drove away.

His thoughts slowly fading back to reality, Mousse let out a small sigh. His script held tightly in his hand he turned away from the scene being filmed before him. For the first time in the completely organized and comfortable routine that was his life, he felt utter confusion. Something new was entering his long ago established routine. Something he wasn't ready to face yet, but would never dismiss. Determined to get his mind to return to his work, he headed for his trailer to go over his script in solitude.

---

Elsewhere in the studio, a pair of sleepy eyes slowly opened, only to be met with almost complete darkness. A very woozy and confused Ryouga tried to place his surroundings. He could piece together very little. Only that there was no light, save for two small patches directly in front of his eyes, and that when he moved, every inch of his body seemed to meet against some sort of barrier. *Where am I?* he thought, quite in character. He squinted to see through the small areas before his eyes, sensing movement. As he did this he fell forward and felt his arm move along with whatever barrier was around him. Ryouga got a small hunch and decided to try standing up. Upon doing so he could feel the barrier around him move along with his entire body, and he could vaguely make out the outlines of his arms through the patches of light in front of him. *I'm.....inside something.. What the?* "Oww!!"

Ryouga hit his head on something weird the moment he straightened his body fully upright. Wincing slightly he could hear voices echoing around him. One was the booming voice of a grown man, while the one that followed seemed to belong to a young boy. "Okay, let's make sure the big guy's sound system works before we get him on-set. Lemme have a sound check, kid. Just say one of your lines from scene two."

"Okay sir!" Ryouga heard what sounded like the sound of a mic too close to a speaker as the young boy's voice delivered the line requested of him. No longer an echo from outside, the dialogue hit Ryouga's ears at startlingly loud volume as if spoken from only millimeters away. "Brother, you shouldn't do that. The General wouldn't approve."

"EEAAAAGHHH!!!!" Ryouga jumped up with a scream as the sound pierced his eardrums. His head once again hitting something hard as he heard the mic distortion sounds a second time. Only then could he barely make out a figure stepping toward him, a flood of light hitting his eyes as the next sight he saw was that of a boy not much younger than him, looking at him sternly and holding what looked like an armored helmet. As he looked around to see more people surrounding him, voices once again spoke up, this time without the echo from before.

"Ed, what the hell is going on out there!? Mind telling me why my most important prop was moving on its' own!?" Ryouga looked at the teenage boy before him, his golden hair hiding very miffed eyes as a frown grew on his face. "Some idiot hid in the armor, chief. Not my fault!" the boy looked Ryouga right in the eyes and continued. "Hey you, that's an expensive prop. You don't go playing hide and seek in it! And your fat head nearly wrecked the helmet's speaker. Get outta there!" Three crewmen lifted Ryouga without warning out of the large suit of armor and placed him on the floor, shooting him similar glares. Ryouga for his part, found himself staring back at the large prop he'd just been pulled out of in utter awe. *That thing is huge! And what was that weird marking I saw on its' interior?!* he thought, shock still present on his face. However, much more evident than shock were embarrassment and confusion at the entire situation. Ryouga could do no more than simply turn to the cast and crew with an apologetic bow. "Sorry. I uh.. got lost."

The boy the director had referred to as 'Ed' rolled his eyes and grabbed some ink and wood kindling from a nearby shelf, then placed it on the floor. Shooting yet another miffed glance up at Ryouga, he clapped his hands together and placed them on the ground. Ryouga covered his eyes immediately as a blinding flash seem to come out of nowhere. As he felt the light die down again, he dropped his hand back down only to see the boy standing again and holding a map out to him. "That's a map of the studio. Find where you're supposed to be on there. Now get going, this is a closed set!" With that, the same three crewmen rushed the perturbed and still very confused Ryouga out the set's door. Mumbling to himself he turned the map sideways and upside down a few times and proceeded to take three more wrong turns before disappearing from sight.

---

Nabiki walked up to the director after being called in for her first scene on the Tendo home interior set. She had just taken her place at the dinner table and was looking around the set as she awaited the director's call for the scene to start. Akane, Ranma, Kasumi and Soun entered the set and took their respective places for the scene. Kasumi, who had just started feeling the effects from her latest caffeine fix leaned over toward Nabiki. "The scene's about to start. What are you looking around for?" A distracted Nabiki came back to reality and shook her head lightly. "It's nothing. Sorry for distracting you Kasumi." "Forget it. Just keep your head together and let's get this scene over with.." Kasumi retorted in her usual snobbish manner, her momentary almost in character concern gone in an instant. Nabiki sighed and rolled her eyes slightly just as the director spoke up.

"Annnnd ACTION!" As the actors delivered their lines taking cues from each other for timing, Nabiki waited for her turn. After Ranma finished speaking his latest line, Nabiki picked up her cue and spoke her dialogue. Upon finishing her line, the prop department, who had been using Nabiki as a cue, set off a small explosive that caved in the Tendo living room wall. The rubble cleared and Nabiki spoke her next line. "Ukyo, you really need to learn the concept of a 'door'.."

Everyone stared. The dust from the rubble settled as Shampoo stood there joining the others in their puzzled stares as a shocked Nabiki brought two fingers to her mouth, realizing her mistake. "CUT!!"

---

The director shot a similar look at Nabiki and motioned for the prop department to move in and replace the wall. "Okay people, take five. That's one for the blooper reel I guess. We'll pick the scene up in 20 minutes once the wall's back in place." Ranma followed Nabiki off-set and caught up with her just in time to see her will away the last of her embarrassment.

"Yo, you okay?" Nabiki looked back at him and uttered a soft almost monotone reply, once again glancing randomly around the studio. "I'm fine....." Ranma sighed at looked at her seriously. "Ya don' hafta tell me what's wrong. But don' lie...." Nabiki shrugged softly and pointed to a spot out of the way where they could talk. Following her lead, Ranma joined Nabiki on a small ledge outside the makeup department. "I feel badly okay... I agreed to go for coffee with Ukyo and some of her friends last night. Things didn't go so well. For her.." Nabiki glanced at the floor, filled with guilt and worry for her friend. Ukyo had been a pain over the last few months, but she didn't hate her.

"An' yer worried cause she ain't here yet, right?" Ranma surmised. All he would receive was a half-hearted nod. Ranma put his hand on Nabiki's shoulder. "Cheer up. Ya were honest with her. All ya can do, really. Ukyo's a big girl, she'll be fine." With that, Ranma stood up and offered a smile, then turned and headed for his trailer till the scene could resume.

---

Soun was in one of the makeup chairs when he noticed Mousse next to him. "You look deeper in thought than usual m'boy." he offered. Mousse simply nodded, his attention elsewhere. Soun looked at the script held tight in Mousse's hand. "Studying next week's scripts again, hmm? Admirable!" Mousse was only registering half of what Soun said and his verbal response showed it. "Hmm? Oh, yeah sure.. Excuse me please." He got up and quickly bowed to Soun, then left the makeup tent, only half finished prepping for his upcoming scene. Soun watched Mousse leave and nodded his approval to the fellow actor. "That boy is always so focused." he thought aloud.

---

Mousse stood off to the side as the actors were called back and the scene resumed. Mousse's gaze fell on the wall, almost looking through it as the scene began, the rubble falling halfway through to reveal Shampoo standing behind it in her classic stance. "NIHAO!!!!" was the only line of dialogue he even heard, the rest just seeming like silent mouth movements as he got lost in his own reverie. His gaze never left Shampoo from the first second she came into view. A million questions ran through his mind as he wondered why she suddenly held his attention so firmly. Only when the director yelled 'cut' did Mousse awaken from his dream. He turned to go, heading for his trailer just as the actors began walking off-set again. Shampoo barely caught sight of him departing as he vanished behind the sound booth.

---

"Akane, Ranma, come here for a second please." Ranma and Akane looked up from their respective locations as the director called over to them. Ranma was halfway to his trailer and Akane had just come out of Wardrobe having changed for her next scene. Two calls of "Yes?" simultaneously hit the director's ears as his two stars headed toward him, just off-set.

"Yes, well. The head writer just handed me a draft of one of our future scripts. I'm not sure it fits the characters so I'd like you two to play out the scene as sort of a test run. What do you say?"

Two nods were received and the director called for the set of the Tendo Dojo interior to be brought in. He then handed a copy of the draft for the two actors to look over while he checked with a crewman to see that all was ready.

Ranma's eyes took on a look of extreme nervousness as he read the script and a similar expression could be read on Akane's face. Before either could notice the blush on the others' features, the director came back.

"Ready you two? Just pretend like this is a normal take. Everything's the same. Just no cameras rolling. Oh, and Ranma, I'll need you to help me with a few screen tests of possible new cast members later. Anyways, ACTION!!"

---

Ranma came running at almost full speed through one of the doors of the Tendo dojo, then proceeded to boredly go into some stretches on the floor. Soon Akane came running in as well, mimicking Ranma's entrance almost exactly. "Geez, what took ya so long? Not much of a race, Akane." Akane frowned slightly and retorted back at the cocky victor. "Yeah, yeah, you won already. You don't have to be such a jerk about it!" Ranma smirked. Something about hearing anyone admit he'd won made his cocky grin even wider. Standing up smugly, he turned his back to her, his hands behind his head as he began to gloat. "So where's the prize ya promised me, huh? C'mon, pay up Akane. Heh!"

Now it was Akane's turn to smirk. Ranma may have won the race, but she was about to win the battle. Casually, she stepped up just behind him and said in a slightly smug yet sweet voice "Your prize is..." Ranma smirked in anticipation "...a kiss."

"GAH!" Ranma all but fell on the floor as he heard that, swerving around to check if he was talking to Akane or some possessed spirit doll. Or worse, Shampoo doing a far too convincing Akane impression. To his relief and then dread, it was indeed Akane. "Y...yer serious?" A very wide eyed Ranma held himself back from his initial instinct to reach out and feel her forehead.

Akane couldn't help but smirk, amused at Ranma's romantically challenged typical reaction.

"Mhmm. Too bad you don't have the guts to collect." she shot back playfully.

"DO TOO!" Ranma's pride got in the way just long enough before he realized what he'd said and looked down at the floor, shuffling his feet. "Errr.. uh... I mean.. that is..... if you don't mi... Erm, yer not gonna hit me if I... y'know...are ya?" Ranma's face was growing dangerously close to being as red as his chinese shirt as he stared at Akane, half out of pure disbelief and half out of nervousness he'd not felt in a long time. Akane had once dared him to kiss her. But this was different. This time it almost felt like she was asking.

Akane rolled her eyes and put her hands briefly out to the sides to show absence of mallet. "I'm sorry if kissing an uncute tomboy is too painful for you!" she stated, her emotions starting to get to her. Quickly, she hid them away again and finished her reply. "But no, I won't hit you."

Meanwhile, behind the character facade, the real Ranma was sweating bullets inside. It was only a scene, but he was actually going to get to kiss Akane. That thought alone was sending his head swimming. He had to use all his training as an actor to keep his concentration. *Oh man... I wish this was real...* he thought, his hands nervously fidgeting inside his pockets. The fidgeting was called for in the script, but as Akane noticed it, she began to break character on the inside as well, Ranma's pockets bringing back the memory of the jewelry box she'd seen. *It's just a kiss, it's just a kiss...* she assured herself.

"Close yer eyes..." Ranma said softly, his concentration demanding he return to the script. Akane closed her eyes as told, her dialogue done for the scene. This left her mind free to wander over thought after thought. Every moment the two had shared over the past few days dancing in her mind. The image of the golden necklace flashed through her mind just as Ranma brought his lips nervously down on hers.

Her blush intensified further than the script called for as she felt Ranma's kiss. Ranma who had closed his eyes as well, found himself turning what was supposed to be a nervous peck into a gentle yet love filled kiss as his lips pressed further against Akane's. *I love you, Akane* he thought silently as he commanded himself to break the kiss, not wanting to take it too far away from what the scene had asked for. Akane once again opened her eyes as she felt Ranma's lips slowly leave her own. She stared back at a now back in character, nervous Ranma, his head down as he blushed horribly. Ranma was just about to speak his last line when the director unexpectedly intervened. "CUT!"

---

Ranma and Akane looked over at him as he walked on-set and shook his head. "Thanks you two. That was fine, but it's just not working. Akane, your character would never actually ask Ranma to kiss her. I'll have to have a word with those writers. This is is a martial arts romantic comedy, not a sappy romance novel... Take your breaks till after lunch, both of you." With that he walked off.

Ranma stood up and shakily held out his hand to help Akane to her feet. Hiding his embarrassment, he simply smiled to her and turned to head back to his trailer. Akane just stood there, staring silently at the figure growing further and further away from her, only then licking her lips slightly at the kiss she'd received, her mind now filled more with questions than answers. *Ranma.....*


	9. Chapter 9

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Ranma 1/2. Nor do I own any other recognized series/characters that may appear in this story. Characters and series elements are copyright of their respective owners.

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**A/N: **This chapter brings in yet more crossover fun as Ryouga has a run in with not only crossover characters, but a relative! Yes, I know, I'm twisted :P Also, I fully admit to selfishly inserting a small scene with one of my all time favorite Ranma 1/2 minor characters complete with another tip of the hat to the seiyuu. Just cause I can. ^_^ Finally, some of the reviews mentioned some missed punctuation in the fic. Thanks to everyone who pointed this out. I've gone back and hopefully fixed all the mistakes. Keep those reviews coming for it's your criticism that helps the story turn out better. Enjoy!

---

As the cast and crew of Ranma 1/2 were busy on Stage #1, countless other areas of the studio were being unintentionally visited by a very agitated, very dejected, very lost Ryouga. Ryouga had been down every alleyway, on every lot and outside every stage of the studio. Luckilly for him, he'd miraculously managed to at least remain on the grounds. The only thing that kept him from opening every last stage door were unfamiliar cast and crew (not to mention props) outside. Clear indications that he'd arrived at the wrong set and needn't bother checking inside. Ryouga was about to call security and have them escort him back, something his pride almost always kept him from doing, when he noticed something. For the first time in hours, he saw someone familiar. It wasn't the Ranma 1/2 set, but the figure he saw caused him to bound forward with enthusiasm. Slowing down just mere feet behind them he came to a stop. Ryouga sported a cheeky grin and tapped the person in front of him on the shoulder.

"Working hard as usual little bro? I guess a squirt like you doesn't have his own trailer yet huh." Ryouga smirked as the 10 year old boy swerved around and gave him a look of surprise. "What are you doing here, big brother? Wait don't tell me. You got lost again. Typical." The boy mirrored Ryouga's smirk as he finished his reply, no longer surprised but instead a mix of joy, annoyance and cockiness. Ryouga's smirk faded away as his features were more in favor of showing a disgruntled frown. "That anyway to talk to me? Feh, I'm not lost. I simply decided to go for a stroll on my break, that's all."

Ryouga saw the boy's smirk accompanied by a raised eyebrow which had a 'sure, sure you did' look to it and his frown deepened. As he continued his reply, Ryouga reached out a hand to take a prop the boy was holding and change the subject in effort to preserve his dignity. "What's this, a Ouija Board?" The boy promptly snatched back the prop and shot back at him. "You know it isn't. Now give it here!"

"Feh, you can have it. I'm not sure what's worse. The weird board or that wimpy looking green robe they've got you prancing around in. I don't know why you let them cast you as a hocus pocus conjuring wimp... I taught you martial arts so that you could land a combat role. Not this magical mumbo jumbo.." Ryouga smiled inside. He may not have shown it, but he really was proud of his brother for following him in his acting career choice. Child actors were in high demand, and no one had been more supportive of his little brother than Ryouga when he had decided to take advantage of the opportunity.

"Shut up! I'll have you know I've already been offered a contract for another series!" the boy retorted, quite agitated. "And it's a combat role so get off my back, Ryouga!" Ryouga smirked and noogied the kid's head.

"Didn't think you had it in you, squirt. Good job." The young boy smiled and was about to voice his dislike for the name 'squirt' when the director could be heard calling various cast and crew to report to their stations. "Syaoran Li! You're needed on the set, kid. Move it!" Ryouga gave the kid a high five and nudged his head toward the direction of the door to Stage #5. "Go get em. I'll see you at home." With that, Ryouga turned and headed off, just as lost as he was before arriving.

---

Nabiki meanwhile was back to pacing around the studio. She had at least an hour to kill before her next scene and although Ranma's words from earlier stayed with her, the lack of Ukyo left her less than convinced.

"Sorry I'm late!" A call came from the main stage door as a cheerful Ukyo came sprinting in. "Where have you been, Ukyo? I thought Ryouga was the only cast member I'd have to reschedule scenes for!"

Ukyo smiled slightly embarrassed at the miffed director. Her right foot suddenly shuffling absently behind the left as she lowered her head, a blush on her face. "Sorry boss. I got held up. I'll head off to wardrobe and be ready in two shakes. Promise!" With that, Ukyo bounded off happily leaving a bemused director to simply shake his head and walk off. Nabiki's jaw dropped as she witnessed a cheerful Ukyo skipping around the stage like she'd won the lottery. Not at all the scene she'd played over and over in her mind all morning. *What the?*

Still in shock, Nabiki barely heard the calls from Tatewaki, Kodachi and Sasuke as they came off-set after completing their scene. "Nabiki? You okay?" Nabiki turned to the trio just as Sasuke bowed politely and excused himself to go study the script, Kodachi and Tatewaki still looking at her expectantly awaiting a reply. "I'm fine, just..... shocked." Kodachi looked at her with slight concern. "None of us have another scene for a while. Why don't you join us for tea in our trailer. You can help me keep the king of pranksters here from making a fool of himself again.." she finished off with a cold stare directedly aimed at her husband. Tatewaki, not quite out of the doghouse yet, kept quiet and simply looked at Nabiki, silently urging her to accept. Nabiki sighed, gave the pair a smile and graciously accepted. With that, the three headed off to the Kunos' trailer.

---

Akane had spent several moments thinking on her trailer steps. She was tempted to grant herself some alone time inside, but wanted to be able to hear the cast and crew should anyone call her. Pressing a finger thoughtfully to her lips, she sighed.

Akane had been carefully avoiding Ranma since their trial run scene for the director. She wanted to see him, but was so full of questions that she was afraid the sight of him would cause her to be far too flustered. Akane felt her hand drop down to just below her neck, feeling the skin there while in her own little world as she imagined the golden locket there, knowing it was meant for her due to the inscription she'd seen.

"Hello Akane" Akane snapped out of her light trance to see Shampoo shooting her a friendly smile. Thankful to see anyone but Ranma catch her in that trancelike state, she smiled back as Shampoo walked over. "May I join you for a late lunch? I have some time before my next scene and I never did get to thank you." Akane paused at Shampoo's words. "Thank me? What for?" Shampoo grinned, her mood not coming down since her arrrival at work, the previous night still fresh in her mind. "For listening to me yesterday of course. I was very upset and our little talk was much appreciated."

Akane nodded, the memory of their talk of Shampoo's worries coming back to her. Smiling she stood up and opened her trailer door, inviting Shampoo inside. "I'm glad I could help, Shampoo. And you seem to be worlds better today." The pair sat down just inside the door, Akane's concern of wanting to hear if they were called still valid. As the two shared a mini feast of cup ramen and pork buns, Shampoo smiled and told Akane of her second date with Mousse. Akane's eyes widened with delight as she was told the tale, her every thought being happiness for Shampoo. "He kissed me." Shampoo whispered with a smile, pointing softly to her lips to indicate the location of the kiss. Akane blushed. Not because of the kiss specifically, but due to the fact that hearing about it brought back the all too vivid memory of her own recent kiss. Shampoo noticed the blush, but shrugged it off, figuring it was Akane's way of expressing happiness for her.

"Excuse me ladies." A crewman walked up to Akane's trailer, interrupting the girltalk. "Shampoo, the director says to tell you that your next scene's been moved. We can't find Shampoo-neko anywhere. The trainer thinks she's run off." Shampoo let out an exasperated sigh. "Damned cat... Oh well, tell him I'll be in my trailer if he needs me." The crewman nodded and walked off, leaving Shampoo to stand and nod a polite farewell to Akane. "I trust we can keep our talk between us girls?" she asked. "Of course. Take care Shampoo." Akane smiled and picked up her script, desperately trying to get her mind off the kiss as Shampoo found herself unknowingly walking toward Mousse's trailer.

---

Ranma was sitting alone in his trailer, thoughtfully running a finger over the gold locket bearing Akane's name as the memory of his lips on hers played through his mind. Letting out a heavy sigh, he looked down at the precious trinket. *Am I ever gonna give this to her...?* Ranma closed his eyes regretfully, cursing himself for not presenting the locket to Akane long ago.

"Ranma, you in there? The director's looking for ya! Something about a screentest." Ranma closed the jewelry box hastilly and shot up out of his seat, quickly tucking the box in his sportsbag. "Damn, I'm late!" Like a red streak of lightning he sped out of his trailer and across the sound stage at record breaking speed, screeching to a halt just outside the screentest room.

---

Ranma let out a nostalgic sigh as he glanced around the room. He hadn't set foot in it since he landed his title role. Ranma had helped test new cast members before, but this was usually done on-set, so there was no need for him to return to the screentesting area. As he looked around he saw various small groups, usually two or three actors, each group gathered next to a sign bearing a future character's name. Ranma's curiousity got the better of him as noted each sign posted around the room. *The writers don' exactly lemme in on anythin'. No harm in takin' a sneak peek..* he surmized. Satisfied no one was watching, Ranma read each sign one by one. The first read 'Gambling King', then 'Miss Hinako', followed by 'Principal Kuno'. That one made Ranma roll his eyes slightly. He then went on to read two more. The first beared the name 'Pantyhose Taro' while the second had not one, but three names written on it. 'Herb, Lime and Mint'. *Man, those writers sure are gettin' hard up for name ideas...*

Ranma was about to read the last sign when the director caught sight of him and motioned for him to come over. "Ah, there you are, Ranma. You're just in time to help me test one of our final considerations for a new character." He then gestured toward a boy Ranma's age who in turn, boldly stepped forward, hiding nervousness behind his features. "Ranma, meet Takeshi-san. He's auditioning for the role of Shinnosuke. I'd like you to help test him in a fight scene. Takeshi-san, you of course know my star, Ranma Saotome." Ranma nodded to the boy and shot him a welcoming grin."Yo, nice ta meetcha. G'luck man!" Ranma stated as he got into a fighting stance.

The director smiled and spoke some final instructions before calling for the screentest to begin. "Okay kid, remember. You've just gotten into an altercation with Ranma. You're on the offense, but your character's weakened. Still, give it all ya got! Go!" Ranma waited for the actor to make his first attack and easilly countered. What followed was a series of kicks, punches, at least two throws and one very convincing elbow strike to the stomach on Takeshi's part. Luckilly, both boys had been trained in stunt fighting as well as real and Ranma definitely had the experience to back up taking a punch.

Ranma was right in the middle of a roundhouse kick when a call from the director caused him to cease his momentum. "Hold it! Kid, I know I said you're weakened, but you're downplaying the fight a little too much. Your fighting spirit is supposed to be making up for where your physical strength is lacking. Remember, you're defensive and feeling very protective right now. In your eyes, Ranma's hurt Akane's feelings. She's the woman you've fallen for and seeing her hurt angers you into attacking. Now show me more feeling!" Ranma rolled his eyes as he began resuming his attack. *Great... another Ryouga...* he thought as the fight commenced.

---

Shampoo was off in her own little world lovingly labeled 'Cloud 9' as she walked around the sound stage in a daydream like state. She'd been so busy thinking about the previous night's events that she failed to notice she was heading in the opposite direction to her trailer, that being her originally intended destination. Only when she saw the screentest room did she realize where she was. There was indeed a trailer in front of her. But it wasn't hers. *The screentest area? But...that would make this trailer... Oh crap!* Shampoo eyed the trailer door nervously, begging it to remain shut as she realized her feet had carried her straight to not her own trailer, but Mousse's.

Mousse, who was inside meditating, had heard soft footsteps outside and stood up to investigate. Shampoo's eyes widened in fear as she saw the doorknob turn. *No, not now. He'll think I'm following him again. Things are just starting to go well, Kami, don't let me screw this up!* Shampoo's eyes darted around the immediate area, desperately searching for a reason to be where she was. Suddenly she spotted Ranma exiting the screentest area. Smiling, she bolted for his location and gave him an almost in character hug, her greatfulness for her best friend's good timing showing through.

"Hi Ranma. I haven't gotten a chance to talk to you today. Helping out with auditions again?" Ranma smiled, caught off guard by the sudden appearance of Shampoo, but happy to see her nonetheless. "Yep, jus' finishing up now, Shampoo. Man, yer happy today. Somethin' good happen? C'mon, neither of us have scenes ta shoot fer another hour. Tell me what's up over a coffee. My treat!" Shampoo nodded in response to the invite and the two friends walked off. Their conversation had not gone unnoticed however. Mousse sighed from his trailer doorway, watching the pair make their exit. Leaning against the doorframe, he spoke aloud to no one in particular. "I guess it would have been too much to hope that she had come to see me..." Mousse stared at the screentest room entrance where Shampoo's figure had stood, closing his eyes as he stubbornly swerved around to face his trailer interior once again, closing the door behind him. *Why should I let that bother me.. It's natural for her to have come to see Saotome. They are best friends. I am a mere colleague. I made ammends with her. I repaid the unkind behaviour from before. We are even now. And I have scenes to rehearse.* Picking up his script again, he buried his nose in it. As he stared at the dialogue, the faint image of him bestowing a kiss upon Shampoo's lips outside her door passed through his mind. A long pause and one very exasperated sigh later, Mousse dropped the script and exited his trailer.

---

Lunch hour had come and gone and a food deprived Ryouga was fast starting to hear his stomach voice its' complaints. Grumbling, he looked around in an attempt to get his bearings. *I may not know what set I'm near, but I can at least find me some food..* he thought.

Suddenly he saw something that made his lips curl into a wry smile, his eyes lighting up as food suddenly was the last thing on his mind. In front of Ryouga stood a figure with her back to him. She was an attractive girl his age with a slender figure and short blackish blue hair. Ryouga walked confidently up to her and embraced her from behind. "I'd know that sexy sillouette anywhere. Sorry for leaving ya unannounced like that, beautiful. Didn't mean to be gone so long. What say we make up for lost time."

The girl swerved around, still in Ryouga's arms and blushed horribly, a puzzled look on her face as she stared back at the strange and very forward man holding her. Ryouga immediately released his hold and jumped back a foot, freezing up shortly after. "Erk! You..you're not my Akane." Still blushing faintly, but recovering, the girl let out a soft cough and answered the flustered Ryouga. "I'm afraid not, sir. My name is Ami. Ami Mizuno" The girl then went into a bow and Ryouga began to recover from his innitial shock, choosing instead to just plain blush in horrific embarrassment at his actions. Looking around nervously, he asked the innevidable. "Uh, I.. I'm sorry about.....er, where am I?" Ryouga caught sight of a sign that read 'Stage 2'. The girl was just about to answer him when a loud racket cut her off but good. "MRREOOWWWWRRR!!!!!"

The pair each jumped out of the way as two cats came bounding through and right between them. Bouncing off of various props and knocking over small set pieces, the two animals proceeded to get into a genuine catfight, claws flying everywhere as screeches and hisses hit the ears of everyone in the area. Ryouga recognized one of the frenzied animals just as Ami reached out and grabbed the other. "Shampoo-neko!?" he stated dumbfounded. "Luna! Stop this at once!" scolded Ami as she held the second cat tight in her arms. Shampoo-neko meanwhile strutted around like the victor in a fighting match just as a white cat peeked around from behind one of the fallen props. Shampoo-neko promptly padded over and rubbed up against the third cat as the one called Luna squirmed in Ami's tight grasp. Ryouga rolled his eyes and picked up the suddenly disgruntled Shampoo-neko as Ami stared down the white cat. "Artemis. It figures."

Ryouga kept a firm hold on the struggling Shampoo-neko and looked down at the perturbed feline. "Looks like we both struck out huh.." He shot an embarrassed and appologetic look back at Ami as he looked at the remaining two cats. "Wait, I know this set. Aren't those cats supposed to talk?" Ami shook her head with a sigh. "A simple CGI trick. Everyone knows cats can't talk." Ryouga chuckled lightly, hiding his embarrasment best he could. "Hehe, yeah....right. HEY!!!" Shampoo-neko wriggled free and bolted out of Ryouga's grip and off like a shot. Ryouga chased after the cat, determined not to let it out of his sight. "Come back here you annoying furball!" Miraculously, Ryouga kept up with the racing feline, only mere feet behind her with every step. He sprinted after her past set after set, over props, under costume wracks and through set pieces. As he ran, Ryouga began to lose hope that he'd ever find his way back. And now he was responsible for the loss of one of the animals. *Damn! Bad enough I got lost. That infernal cat's leading me on a wild goose chase around the whole lot! How will I ever get back to.. HUH!??*

Ryouga stopped cold as Shampoo-neko lept into the arms of her trainer. He then blinked in disbelief as he found himself mere yards away from his trailer. He'd made it back to the set without even realizing it. Smiling a coy smile in attempt to make it look like he'd made his way back on purpose, he leaned over and whispered to the now purring cat. "Next time you feel like going on a romantic fling, leave me out of it..." His frustration once again subsiding to allow hunger to take over, he collapsed on his trailer steps and began scarfing down his yesterday's lunch.

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Thus ends Chapter 9. Chapter 10 coming soon so stay tuned!

**UPDATE!!**

Due to the busy holiday season, I won't be able to post more chapters until January. I simply don't have the time. Sorry everyone! Check back in the new year and I promise I will get back to the fic! Happy Holidays!


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